Infatuation
by rysta cat
Summary: A new school year...Remus has a new secret, Sirius KNOWS who Lily is, James is a prick, and Lily has a history and a future that could shock the world. Romance, confusion, drama, and laughs; 6th year at Hogwarts. Pairings: RL/SB, JP/LE (eventually)
1. Let's Go Play in the Sun

Hello all, and welcome to Infatuation! I'm your author, Crys, and I hope you enjoy the reading today. Just so you know, Crys is not another name for J. K. Rowling, so this is obviously not mine, and I have no intentions of selling it and making any money. Anything you recognize is probably hers.

Now, to Chapter 1: Let's Go Play In the Sun

            Remus Lupin sat slouched in History of Magic, the dullest class in the world, staring out the open window wishing he were outside along with the group of third year Ravenclaws in Care of Magical Creatures Class. Sure, he actually had to pay attention in that class, and he was neither a third year nor a Ravenclaw, but anything seemed better than this stuffed up classroom on such a beautiful day. It was only two weeks into the school year, but a full moon was coming up the week after and Remus was feeling slightly restless, as he always did before the full moon- or, so he told himself as he lazily closed his honey gold eyes in a mix of melancholy and self-disgust. More than anything he wanted to be outside so he could think. He always thought better outdoors, a wolf thing he supposed, and he definitely had a problem.

            _Why couldn't summer have just gone on forever? Never ended? I could've had peace, time to be alone with my twisted wistfulness. Then I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be suffering from these thoughts and the constant, torturous, daily reminders of them._ Over the summer, the things Remus had been beginning to feel over the past two years had intensified, and he couldn't deny them anymore: he was attracted, no, in love with Sirius Black. One of his best friends. A guy. A guy with a long term girlfriend, or at least, as long term as one gets with Sirius. He'd never had a reaction like this to anyone else, ever, males and females alike. Sirius made him feel different, more different than he'd ever felt before. Alive. Important. Free. _Passionate- let's not forget that,_ a nasty part of his brain reminded his conscious. He's made me think my life is worth living. They all had- him, and Jamie, and Pete- but Sirius had most of all. At the same time, however, Remus sometimes felt so much love, so much adoration, it hurt. Physically.

Just this morning Remus had struggled against a bit of jealousy as Padfoot's girlfriend, Veronica Borneheld, had plopped down comfortably on the boy's lap as if she owned it and kissed him. Ardently. He'd barely kept himself from storming from the Great Hall. As it was, he'd shaken with repressed emotions as Veronica's slimy lips had claimed Sirius' silken, sinfully full ones. Remus felt his stomach knot with the new wave of envy, and he shook his head, disgusted with himself. _What kind of guy lusts after his best friend? As if I didn't have enough problems as a werewolf, now I have to be gay! _Selectively_ gay! Worse than that, if possible, I made a horrible selection. This is wrong. I shouldn't feel like this. I knew it was possible to fall for either sex, because wolves only fall once, and soul mates are soul mates…but he's Sirius. And I make what we have dirty just by thinking these thoughts about him, feeling this way about him. It's not right. I could lose him, his friendship, if he really knew how I thought of him…_

Not able to continue thinking along those increasingly depressing lines, he let out his breath in a low hiss. Ever since he'd discovered the depth of his feelings the previous summer, he'd experienced denial and resigned acceptance in turns; at the moment, he was feeling denial, no matter how weak. Straightening defiantly, he tried to draw himself back into the lesson- unsuccessfully. He listened to Binns drone on for about ten seconds, then silently scoffed. _We've been learning about goblin rebellions for at least two years now. Doesn't this man know about anything else?_ He looked out the window again, needing something to aim his jealousy at. "Damn them all," he muttered, annoyed, glaring at the third years. He stared sullenly, not hearing the quiet "Psst!" that persisted behind him, drowning in major self-pity for once. Suddenly something jabbed into Remus's back, jerking him back to the present. Turning sharply, a little annoyed, he faced his other best friend, James Potter. "Cor, Prongs, do you think you poked me hard enough? What is it?" he demanded, rubbing the sore spot in his back.

"What's up, Moony?" James asked mischievously, eyes twinkling with his usual good nature. "Can we pull a prank on them?" he begged, sounding like a little child imploring his mum for sweets before dinner.

Remus blinked, confused. "Them?"

"The people you're damning, of course. Must've done something to you, obviously, you're not usually so moody. So it's payback. What are we going to do?" He sounded like he was asking permission. _For Merlin's sake! I am not his Mum-away-from-home!_

"Nothing. James, no one's done anything to me. I swear. And it's not like I can't take care of myself."

James raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Then who were you damning, you loon?"

Remus flung his arm towards the open, beckoning window, motioning to the unsuspecting Ravenclaws. "Them! Lucky bastards."

            "Ah," James sighed, understanding some of Remus's torment. "To be outside. What a wonderful concept on such an exquisite day…too bad it's lost on Binns. It's an indignity, an outrage! Another priceless September afternoon wasted on his tedious lecturing-"

            "Cut the poetry, Prongs, we already know about your extensive vocabulary," Peter whispered from where he was sitting in the desk across the aisle from Remus, rolling his eyes and making a slitting motion against his neck with his index finger. "I'm dying to get out of this hell hole of boredom, let's scram. Any ideas?"

            "We could just stand up and walk out," James suggested with a grin. "I doubt he'd notice, that babbling- No wait! We could use Sirius-" Who was snoring loudly from his position behind Peter, drool collecting on his desk. Remus's eyes momentarily flicked to the raven-haired boy, then back to James. "- as a distraction. No doubt Binns would be royally interrupted if Padfoot, still asleep, floated to the front of the room snoring _and_ dancing an Irish jig."

            Remus imagined this for a moment and wanted to laugh out loud, fighting the urge as he replied, "_Good_ ideas, Jamie, not ideas that will get us stuck in this class for the rest of the period as well as detention!"

            James pouted. "I was only joking," he muttered.

            They were silent for a bit, each trying to find a way out of the classroom. "I've got it," Remus said finally, waiting for Peter and James's full attention. "If we could just summon your cloak, Prongs, then we could sneak underneath it and slip out. No one would notice."

            "Yeah," James replied sarcastically. "No one would notice if a cloak flew through the door, making it's way to me, causing me to be the object of attention for the rest of the lesson, undermining our entire operation. Then, you're forgetting my hopelessly lost Charms talent."

            "Well, _I_ have excellent grades in Charms, and if I focus, I could probably get the thing to come through the already open window instead of the door. No one'll notice. Quite simple really, shall we try?"

            James eyes lit up in enthusiasm, and Peter nodded eagerly. Remus plucked his maple wand from his desk, a unique mix with both a unicorn hair and a phoenix feather as the core, pointing out the window. "_Accio__ Invisibility Cloak_," he muttered softly, managing to swish and flick perfectly without gathering anyone's attention. In less than five minutes the cloak whizzed noiselessly through the window and into Remus's lap.

            "What about Padfoot?" James asked, gesturing to their sleeping friend.

            "He's fine where he is," Remus replied quickly, sounding almost harsh. _Got to watch that_, he told himself when James looked at him curiously. _You want to sound unaffected, not pissed off. _"It's just, if you could actually manage to wake up Sirius Black, there's bound to be some noise. And that's if! We don't need the attention it'll draw. He needs the sleep anyway. You know he hasn't been doing very well about taking care of himself since we got back. He's overworked and underfed, as well as sleepless. He needs the rest." Peter and James nodded in agreement as Remus berated himself for going on and on like a concerned lover. _As if! _After a nervous glance around the room, Remus draped the cloak over himself and gathered his books quietly underneath. Standing, he waited for first Peter, then James, and once all three teens were crammed underneath the cloak, they waltzed out of the classroom quickly, bursting into muffled laughter halfway down the corridor. It was too easy. "So, what're we going to do?" Remus asked.

Peter looked up with a bored expression. "I still have to finish that paper on the Importance of Regulating Cauldron Depths for Maloney. How dull. It's due tomorrow, you know, and I only have an inch, maybe less!" He turned to James. "How long is it supposed to be again?"

            "At least four feet," James replied with a snigger.

            "Oh," Peter sighed wistfully. "Well there goes my afternoon plans. At least I'll get to do it outside. Meet you guys underneath the Old Oak?" he asked, referring to their special meeting place, a large, leafy tree about two hundred paces from the Whomping Willow.

            "Fine by me," Remus said. James nodded. Waving, Peter headed away down a different hallway that would eventually lead him outside, and the two remaining Marauders headed up to Gryffindor Tower.

            James looked at Remus. "Did you finish that essay?" he asked.

            "Yup," Remus replied, grinning. Poor Wormtail. Of the group, he and Sirius had the worst study habits, and it was even worse for Peter because he simply wasn't as brilliant as Sirius; James and Remus, on the other hand, liked to get their work completed quickly and usually did it together.

            James grinned in return. "Game of wizarding chess, then?" he challenged. "Unless of course, you're afraid you might lose…"

            "You're on," Remus cried. "There's no way you can beat me, get over it. I. Am. Invincible. The Master!"

            "You wish," James retorted. "Let's go put our books up, then we can head on down. Is the game upstairs, or outside stashed in the tree?" he asked.

            "Fiddlesticks," Remus said to the Fat Lady, who raised her eyebrows at the truant students, but swung open nonetheless. "Upstairs. I'll fetch it." And so they missed out on a whole two hours of History of Magic, and Remus temporarily forgot about his tormentor.

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            Lily Evans sat across the classroom, tuning out Binns' useless and monotonous repartee of common goblin rebel forces. _It's not as if I haven't read all of this in our book at least four different times! And that's just this year._ Her attention drifted to her good friend Remus, who was glancing around the classroom quickly in a guilty manner. Then suddenly, to Lily's astonishment, he wasn't there at all. She barely remembered to hold in a gasp, which would've attracted her closest female friend, Joni Crestmont's attention. Watching intently, her green eyes donned a predatory gleam as first Peter Pettigrew and then James Potter, two of Remus's best friends, also disappeared. She shifted her gaze to Sirius Black, sure he would be the next to go despite the fact that he seemed to be taking his afternoon nap. After about ten minutes of waiting, she leaned back into her chair, thinking hard. _Ah, so they left one of their little Marauders behind. I wonder what that is all about? It's almost legend, the way those four stick together- surprising I can have two of them for friends, and don't know the other two at all. Something to ponder on a rainy day, the inner workings of the Marauders._ She sighed regally, deciding she'd wake Sirius up after class let out if he hadn't already managed to make it back to the real world by himself.

She turned her thoughts away from the sleeping teen to something else that had been bothering her. Remus hadn't been behaving normally, that much she knew. He'd gone off for summer vacation perfectly fine, but only two weeks back into fifth year and she could tell something was different.

_Mind you, he's been guarding something from me for at least the past few years, other than his 'condition' of course. I'll have to talk to him about it, see if I can get him to confide in me. I doubt it'll work though. I mean, we've been really good friends for how long? Let's see, since the train ride back to Hogwarts after Christmas break in our first year; that's three and a half years of being almost best friends, and he hasn't told me about being a werewolf- I've known since before we became friends at that! He told the Marauders second year, but not me. If he doesn't trust me with his secret, then what do we have? Nothing- friendship is based on trust, and he has absolutely no trust in me. I think I'll talk to Jo about this, she'll give me her true opinion on the matter. I won't mention the werewolf part, of course, I'll just ask her about me- am I intimidating? Snobbish? Is there a reason why one of my closest friends can't trust me with the truth? Does he think I'm just a heartless bitch who'll turn her back on him and blab to everyone I know? Why that little no good- oh shit, Lillian Judith! Stop speculating, you'll just think the worst, get pissed, and then there'll be trouble._ If there was one thing Lily couldn't control, it was her temper, and she definitely lived up to the hot-tempered red head stereotype, although she'd never admit it.

The bell rang, interrupting her thoughts.  Binns finally shut up, closed his notes and said, "An essay about Ministry recognized disorganized goblin rebel breakouts, from 1356 to present day due next week.  At least three feet."  With that, the old ghost turned and walked out of the room through the wall.  Snapping into action, Lily gathered her things and shoved them into her bag.  Joni stood near the door, pretending to toss her long blonde hair impatiently, hazel eyes sparkling.

            "Come on, Lil!  We have a free period next, and I want to get out of these suffocating black robes and into the sunshine.  Up for a game of hide and seek?"  
  


            "Hide and seek?" Lily snorted.  "What are we, first years?"

            "You know you want to play," Joni teased impishly.

            "Go on ahead, I'll catch up with you in our dorm.  I'll play if you can find at least three others to join us, and they have to be in fifth year or up, no ickle firsties," she promised, giggling slightly at Joni's mock horror.

            "No firsties, huh?  Well, I guess my boyfriend's out," she pouted.  "See you!"  Turning, she headed out of the door.

            Shaking her head at her silly friend, Lily made her way over to Sirius, whom everyone had left alone.  It was well known the waking of Sirius Black was a hopeless task.  She readjusted her bag on her shoulder and prodded him gently.  When that didn't work, she shook him slightly, only making him grumble incoherently about something that sounded a lot like 'cookies',  'mummy', and 'I promise no one will be hurt- much'.  Raising one eyebrow elegantly, she gave up on shaking him.  "Sirius Black, wake up!  Class is over," she demanded in a singsong voice, growing a little impatient.  Flipping out her wand, she was about to mutter 'enervate' when she got a better idea.  "_Hydro Jettalius._"  Water shot out of the end of her wand into Sirius's face.  His eyes flew open and he jumped, sputtering indignantly.

            "What the hell- Lily!  What's your problem?  Honestly, can't someone get a bit of shuteye without being bothered!  Shouldn't you be off taking notes, or brown nosing, or something?" he snapped, glaring up at her.

            Lily sniffed huffily, rolling her eyes in indignation.  "Okay, Sirius, before you get all over _my_ back, I was trying to do you a favor."  Green eyes flashing dangerously, she gestured wildly around the empty classroom.  "Class.  Is.  Over.  Everyone's gone.  They were just going to leave you here, and you know what?  Next time, I will too.  Excuse me for breathing, I think I'll remove myself from your _exalted presence_ as I have better things to do with my afternoon."  Turning on her heel, she stormed out of the room, leaving a confused and slightly annoyed Sirius behind.

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And that is all for now, my doves! Review if you enjoyed it and want to read more. Review if you hated it, flames accepted with relish! I want to be a writer someday, so this is sort of a test drive, if you will and I really need feedback on my skills (or maybe lack-thereof).

Thanks, 

Crys


	2. Feeling Sorry, Paying Homage, Making Ene...

Disclaimer: Hi, I'm not J.K.R. Not feeling creative at the moment, but please don't sue. That's the best disclaimer I have in me tonight.

Also, last chapter, I was so excited about being able to upload documents that I was in a rush to get it on FanFiction before I couldn't again (if that makes any sense at all). Anyways, I forgot to mention my beta! Thanks Char, for helping me out.

Down to business: the reviews weren't many, but they WERE, and that is the point. All three of them DO exist, which is better than nothing. 

Headmaster Cromwell, I am honored by your invitation (should I be, or am I just over excited?) However, the link you gave me "didn't exist" when I tried to go to it. Just thought I should let you know. I'm glad you think the story is good.

Larken84, I'll do the best I can with the posting! I hope to crank out Chapter Four by the end of this week. (ambitious, I know.)

stellar, I'm glad you decided to check out my story despite the initial hesitation, and I hope you don't regret your decision. This chapter is dedicated to you, believe it or not, just cause you were unsure about whether this story was for you, but you dove in anyway. Thank you for reviewing.

Again, thanks to all (um, threes company, not crowded yall) and I mean ALL reviewers. I appreciate you taking the time to respond to something I've been working on for quite awhile. Enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 2: Feeling sorry, Paying Homage, Making Enemies

Refresher from the previous chapter:

"Class. Is. Over. Everyone's gone. They were just going to leave you here, and you know what? Next time, I will too. Excuse me for breathing, I think I'll remove myself from your _exalted presence_ as I have better things to do with my afternoon." Turning on her heel, she stormed out of the room, leaving a confused and slightly annoyed Sirius behind.

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_Oh great job, Sirius, _he thought angrily to himself, watching her retreating back._ Can you stick your foot in your mouth even more?_ Sighing, he grabbed his books and trudged slowly out of the classroom and down the hall. _Women. I'll never understand them. So I was a bit grouchy- did she have to fly off the handle like that? Then again, it _was_ Lily. Man, does she have a wicked temper. I'd hate to be the guy that really pisses her off. Wonder why the guys just left me there anyway? Guess I'll have to ask them about it later._ "Fiddlesticks," he growled at the Fat Lady.

"Bad day dear?" she asked sympathetically, swinging open to admit him.

"The pits." His day couldn't have gone any worse if Voldemort had dropped in for a visit. He'd slept in that morning, missing breakfast and coming in late to Transfiguration, earning him his first detention of the day. He'd turned McGonagall's hair purple in retaliation, but not to be outdone, she'd decided he needed detention for the next two weeks as well. Charms had gone pretty smoothly, except it was his worst subject, so he hadn't mastered whatever Flitwick had assigned by the time the bell sounded. The result? He'd gotten held back after class for a short tutor session with Flitwick himself. This only left him five minutes to eat lunch, and too drained to make his way to the Great Hall, he'd just headed to History of Magic and fallen asleep. _Then there's the cold shoulder Moony's been giving me since we got back from summer vacation. What's his deal? Ever since the Express, he's been sort of distant. Ugh, I am starving!_ Dropping his books off in the dorm, he saw James and Remus's books on their respective beds and noted the missing chess pieces. _I'll bet they're at Old Oak, since I didn't see them in the common room. Okay, list of things to do: one, apologize to Lily, two, filch some food from the kitchens, three, find the guys._ Decided, he left the boys dorm and scanned the common room. Not spotting the red head anywhere, he turned towards the girl's dorm, nearly bumping into another sixth year girl who was on her way down.

"Ah, Kate, lovely to see you, smashing really," he said jovially, smiling what he hoped was a winning smile.

"What do you want now, Black?" she asked with exasperation. They'd dated in third year, and then he had dumped her rather brutally for a Hufflepuff after about a week and a half. She'd hated him ever since. _This day just gets better and better, doesn't it?_

"I was wondering if Lily was up in your dorm? I was pretty rude earlier, and I feel an apology is in order."

"Are you for real? The great Sirius Black, apologize? By all means, don't let me stop you. However, she's not in the dorm, she and Joni left less than five minutes ago, something about hide and seek. How immature can you get?"

"Well, thanks for saving me the time to check, I'll see you around then? Again, corking to see you." Without waiting for a reply he rushed out of the Fat Lady and after a quick nip by the kitchens where he was given mounds of food from over cooperative house elves, he was soon out in the sunshine. If he had any luck at all, the guys would be at the Old Oak, and if he was even luckier, he'd run into Lily there, since the best trees were over in that area. He began to jog across the lawn. _Maybe things are looking up._

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Remus grinned, and took James's knight. "Checkmate."

"God Moony, can't give this poor bloke a break, could you? Five times in two hours!"

"I told you already. I'm invincible. It's a well-known fact and you're the only one who doesn't seem to get it. I am Remus, god of chess and chocolate and-"

"And what?" James asked, egging him on.

"And women!" he finished proudly.

A voice snorted aloud, making the two boys spin around, dislodging their board.

"You?" Joni asked, her eyes leaking mirth. "You, Remus Lupin, proclaim yourself God of women? Puh-lease, I thought you of all people would've come up with something better than that. Women are not governed by anyone but themselves. We _are_ individuals just like you, not just a piece of ass!"

"I didn't-" Remus stuttered, but Joni barged on.

"We've got minds and we can think. Just because most girls around here have mush for brains, fake boobs, and follow you guys around with drool dangling from their chins, that doesn't mean-"

"Oh, Joni, are you attacking these poor ickle boys with your speech on feminism again?" a light, feminine voice quipped.

Remus looked up at this beacon of hope. "Lily? Is it really you? Oh save me, save me! I repent all sins against women, I didn't mean it, honestly!" He dove at her legs, clutching them and begging forgiveness.

Lily frowned with mock sternness, and seemed to consider his pleas. "Well," she relented slowly, "all right then. I forgive you. And your friend too, notwithstanding his silence. Why Remmie, haven't you taught your friend any manners at all? When in the presence of a great goddess such as myself, and Madame Joni of course, he should grovel- or at least bow properly. I am appalled at the company you keep!" Immortal green orbs, filled with laughter and a spark of mischief, turned to include James in the conversation. James gawked at her, taking in the rich, fiery red curls that framed her angular face complete with creamy complexion, cheeks slightly flushed with the heat. Light circled around her, and for a moment, James believed her jesting, looking up at her from his position from the ground.

"Uh- uh," James stalled, staring at this beautiful girl in wonder, momentarily rendered speechless, which was highly unusual. Then, thoughts that actually made sense began to leak through the awe and he looked at her closely. _She looks familiar. I'm sure I've seen her before._ "You're not a goddess... I've seen you around the tower a few times." _Oh, good job, James,_ he thought sarcastically. _You sound as intelligent as a cardboard box._

"And in your classes," the girl pointed out, raising one sophisticated eyebrow.

"Duh, Prongs," Remus hissed in his ear. "Snap out of it."

"We _are_ in your year, you know!" Joni yelled at him from where she was standing, grinning at his denseness. "And Gryffindors at that, you ox!"

"I know who _you_ are, Jo," he growled back, slightly embarrassed. "Who doesn't? You're so obnoxious even Binns knows who you are, and that's saying something!" He turned to Lily again. "Lainie, is it? Nice to meet you, I'm Ja-"

"James Potter," she finished for him, entrancing green eyes flashing in anger. 

"Yes, I know who you are. And the name's Lily_, not_ Lainie."

"Ah, I see." _This girl's got a temper, she does. Damn, I love it when a girl gets all feisty and fired up. At least, I do now..._ "Well, Lily, now that you mention it, I do remember seeing you around school." 

"Really?" she drawled sweetly, batting her eyelashes at him. James was just beginning to think he'd actually scored some points with the girl, when she snapped him out of his reverie by saying, "Should I be flattered, Jo, that the great Potter has 'seen me around school?'"

"Oh yes, you should," Joni smiled thinly. "It's a great day when James notices you, babe. Just wait until he invites you up to a tower for a one-night snog. Then you can fall into a swoon."

"Too bad swooning's not my style."

"I do not treat girls that way!" James declared, shooting a glare at Joni, who merely smiled. _Is she trying to ruin any and every chance I have with Lily? _

Lily ignored this outburst and turned to address Remus who was still sprawled on the grass. "Remus, dah-ling, I doubt just an apology will get you on Joni's good side."

"Oh no," Joni crowed. "No apology will do for me. You'll have to pay me homage!"

"Homage?" Remus asked weakly. Joni was always dangerous when you owed her a favor.

"Yes, homage. You- and him-" she jabbed her finger in James's direction. "-will play hide and seek with me, forcing Lily to play also."

"No Joni," Lily replied, facing her friend with a challenging gleam in her eyes. "I said _three_ others, not two."

"Wrong again Lils. I talked to Sean; you know, Sean Finnegan, that Ravenclaw boy? Well, I ran into him on the way up to the tower, and he said he'd love to play………if you did."

"I see." Lily sighed, totally missing Joni's suggestion. It didn't go unnoticed by James, however. "Okay, fine, I give. Let's play."

"Yahoo! All right Lils, that's the spirit."

"Who'll go find Sean?" Lily asked, suddenly struck with a burst of ingenious. If she could get Joni to go look for him, she could post-pone the game for a while yet.

Joni fell right into her hand. "I will," she volunteered, dashing off towards the castle without waiting for a reply.

Lily shook her head and found a lovely rock to perch on. Facing the boys again, she spoke into the ensuing silence, a Cheshire cat grin playing across her lips. "So, how was your little afternoon escapade? Skip class much?"

James's jaw dropped while Remus looked up at her in resignation. "I thought you might've spotted our little disappearing act. I saw your face when I vanished."

"Will you tell McGonagall?" James demanded in a low voice.

"Is Dumbledore a Death Eater?" she said. Glaring at him, she shook her head. "I'm no tattle tail. And I especially don't rat on my friends. If you knew anything about me, you'd know that much."

"It's just, I thought- you being a _prefect_ and all-" James stuttered, looking like a deer caught in car headlights. _Those eyes, they just blaze right through you, into the inter depths of your soul...like she knows all my secrets._

"Surprise, surprise! You actually noticed something about me after all…I _am_ shocked. What about _you_? You're a prefect too."

"I wouldn't tell on myself. Besides, I was thinking-"

"Maybe you shouldn't _try_ to think so much. You might have fewer headaches." The three teens sat in silence, Lily glaring daggers at James, and Remus staring back and forth between the two. Suddenly Lily spoke up, shattering the peace, shifting her gaze from an uncomfortable James to Remus. Smiling sadly, she said, "Remmie, I need to talk to you. Later. Alone. It's quite important. When can you fit it in?"

"How about our secret place at-" he checked his watch. "7:30?" He glanced at her with worry. Whatever she wanted, it seemed urgent.

Relieved at his willingness, she nodded. "Sounds perfect."

_So they have a 'secret place'?_ James wondered jealously._ Wonder what's so important that she can't talk about it here?_

James felt, with some shock, a reply sound in his head, but it wasn't his voice, it was feminine-** If I thought it was any of your concern, James, I would've said it already. Mind your own business.** James stared at Lily, wide-eyed, not in awe anymore, but in slight fear.

"How'd you do that?" he demanded aloud.

Lily met his angry blue gaze with cool green. "Do what?" she asked nonchalantly, examining her nails.

"You know what I'm talking about," he shouted at her. When she continued to level his gaze, he thought hard in her direction, hoping it would reach her._ Can't you hear me? Or are you a Trelawney in the making? _There was a snort of contempt in his mind, the only response. He tried again. _Only dark magical beings can communicate mind to mind- you Death Eater!_

She lurched, as if she'd been slapped. "Who do you think you are, James Potter?" she hissed at him, leaping up from her seat. She began to back towards the school, her voice rising to a screech. "How dare you! Don't ever speak to me again, got that? Ever!"

Scowling, he goaded on with his mind. _Go ahead, little flower. Retreat, retreat, it just proves I'm right._

"Stop it!" she screamed at him, running towards the school now. "Leave me alone!"

_You must be dark, Lily. How else can you hear my thoughts? How many have you killed Lily? How many have suffered at your hands?_ **Too many, **came the fleeting reply. James barely heard her before he felt something else in his mind, like a door slamming on him, and suddenly the connection was broken.

Remus was staring at him in alarm and anger. "What did you do to her, Prongs?" he growled, sounding like the wolf he was. "What happened?"

"What I did to her?" James shouted back. "She did it to me! She- she- I don't know how she did it…" James trailed off. "She's a Death Eater Moony, she's one of them- I thought you had a sixth sense about these things-"

"She's what?! James!" Remus looked horrified. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I- she-" James faltered.

Remus shot him one last glare, and then raced off after Lily.

James was left sitting, bewildered, at the base of the Old Oak wondering what had just happened.

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And that, my friends, is chapter two. Please review, feedback of any kind is horded like a dog with a secret stash of bones.

Crys


	3. Dumbledore Is An Egghead, aka KnowItAll

Hello again!

Disclaimer: It's not owned by me and I'm not making any money, please don't sue me.

Alrighty then, to reviewers:

mackenzie, thank you for reviewing. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Stellar, what about 'my lily' (and I use the term loosely) disagrees with you? Just curious, any thoughts you have would help in her character development. Maybe she's coming across in a different way than I intended, or maybe she's right on target. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Darian! Well, I must say, I couldn't stop grinning when I read your review, I felt all warm and tingly inside. One, thank you for clearing up the whole link thing from Headmaster Cromwell. That helps immensely. Two, the telepathy will continue, but it IS going to be explained in this chapter- hope you're not disappointed with the results. Thirdly, to quote you, "There are not many people who can make Lily a believable, likeable, character." This made my day. I'm glad you like Lily so much. That means a lot to me, that I was able to make her come alive for you since she's only barely mentioned in the book, and I had to kinda give it a stab in the dark. Thank you for reviewing! Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Thanks again to Charlotte, my beta!

FYI to all readers, the reason I am being so ambitious about updating this week, I am going on a three week vacation, and will not have any internet access as far as I know, which means although I would love to and it kills me that I wont be able to, updating is not an option until July 10, the night I get back. No matter how tired I am, I promise all of you there will be a chapter posted that night. Until then, enjoy and review!

Onwards and forthwards to Chapter 3: Dumbledore Is An Egghead, aka Know-It-All 

Refresher from the previous chapter:

"She's what?! James!" Remus looked horrified. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I- she-" James faltered.

Remus shot him one last glare, and then raced off after Lily.

James was left sitting, bewildered, at the base of the Old Oak wondering what had just happened.

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Lily ran back up to the school as fast as she could, fighting the pain she knew was there. She'd cried enough over the past few years. _How could he?_ She wondered. _He doesn't even know me when I've lived in the same goddamn House for six years! How can he judge me like that? How could I have found that horrible boy attractive? Why did I have a crush on that- that oblivious idiot?! What a git!_

Stumbling, she made it about halfway back when she ran smack into someone.

Not even wanting to get up, she lay sprawled on the grass, breathing in the smell of the green blades, continuing to fight the tears as they rolled down her cheeks. Remembering………remembering………

A hand reached over and softly stroked her hair, a boy's voice murmuring soft, sweet nonsense. Slowly she looked up and into the stormy gray eyes of Sirius Black. "Hello sweetling. Bad day, huh?" he asked softly, reaching out to wipe away one of her tears.

Sniffling, Lily slowly sat up and brushed briskly at her cheeks in a businesslike-way that had Sirius smiling. _Always so in control, _he thought. "Not today," she said. It was normal for her to occasionally barge in on his thoughts. Once the weirdness had worn off, it had just been comfortable. She continued speaking, sighing sadly. "It's been the worst day. In Transfiguration, McGonagall told me I have to get a tutor because I'm so slow at the subject, and then you yelled at me in History and oh! I hate James Potter!"

Sirius snickered. "What has that tosser done now?"

"It's horrible, Siri. Did you know he didn't even know who I was, for starters, when I've lived in the same House in the same _year_ for four years, going on five?!" _And have had a crush on him as well,_ she added silently to herself.

Sirius grinned. "Never said he was the brightest bulb in the box."

"But Sirius, I am friends with two of his best friends. You can't tell me he's that dense."

"James only worries about what affects him. If it doesn't affect him, it doesn't penetrate. Typical Jamsie behavior, I promise. He tries not to date in house, so it's no surprise he hasn't truly noticed you. Ignoring temptation and all that rot."

"Sure," she snorted, continuing her rant. "Then, he had the _nerve_ to look at me like a parched man lost in the desert discovering an oasis. I am not a piece of meat. Hell, I'm not even that pretty!"

"Yeah, right, Lily, keep telling yourself that and it might come true. Not! I know you have had the biggest crush on him since second year when he beat up Snape for you because he called you a Mudblood. Granted, he didn't know _who_ he was beating Snape up for, but hey, all men are pigs. Happy? I admit it."

"You know?" she demanded, immediately on the defensive. "You haven't told him, have you? And you can't possibly believe that your James is so in the clouds that he has almost no idea who I am, when I was announced prefect with him this year, and he…"

"Again, Lily, all men are pigs. We think with our dicks. We're mindless, hormone driven apes that belong in the Stone Age. Get over it, you're stuck with us!" He ignored her sigh of exasperation. "Now look, forget James. He's really not worth it………"

"Sirius! He's your best friend!"

"I know. So what's your point?" As Lily opened her mouth to reply, he waved off her response. "Never mind. I've been looking all over for you, and I wanted to say I'm sorry I yelled at you after History. You know how I am when I've just woken up. And today's been sucky for me too."

Lily pretended to stifle a gasp of astonishment. "Today's got to be Friday the Thirteenth or something!" She cried out in mock horror.

Sirius laughed outright this time. "No, today is the sixteenth of September, and rightly so! Don't you remember?"

Lily looked up at him curiously. "Remember what?"

"'Oh, my, a Grim, sitting on an open umbrella! On the sixteenth of September, dears, you will all have a rather sour day and beware, Sirius Black! Death is around every corner!' " Sirius predicted in a fluttery voice, mimicking Professor Trelawney perfectly, causing Lily to giggle. "I am _so_ glad I dropped that class!"

"God, you sound just like her."

"What can I say? It's a talent. Forgive me?" he pleaded. Sometimes Lily could be very unforgiving, if the mood struck her- it all depended on what you'd done to piss her off in the first place and what kind of mood she was in when you approached her. What Sirius didn't know was that he held a special place in Lily's heart, and she could never stay mad at him even if she wanted to.

"I forgive you, but only if you forgive me for my temper."

"Of course, Tiger Lily, why would _I_, Sirius Black, hold a grudge against the most gorgeous dame in our year?"

"You wish," she replied, shaking her head.

Chuckling, Sirius pulled her into a hug. She giggled with him, holding him and breathing in the scent that was purely Sirius, storing it away in her mind. His scent was always comforting, even in memory. Hugging him close, she imagined Sirius was the only family she had left, if not by blood then by heart. Lily had met him on the first day of school when Snape had knocked her into the lake and Sirius, being the gallant and courageous boy he was, had saved her even though technically she hadn't needed it. She'd been won over by him at that moment. That was the day the legendary feud between Snape and Sirius had started. Lily and Sirius' friendship, however, had only grown since then. She wondered vaguely how Sirius could be so nice to her when he was constantly dating and dumping other girls.

Sirius lifted himself out of her lavender smelling curls and held her chin in his grip gently, making her look into his eyes. "So Lils, want to tell me what my most horrible, incredibly rude best friend has said to upset you so?"

Lily's happiness faltered and she stared down at her hands. "I- I can't, Siri, not unless you come with me."

"Come with you where?"

"To see Dumbledore."

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"Miss Evans, I've been expecting you, step right in. But Mr. Black as well, I see? Well, come right in, the more the merrier." Dumbledore ushered them into his circular office, motioning to two comfy, vacant chairs facing his desk.

"Now Miss Evans, there was something important you needed to discuss with me, something to do with Mr. Potter, I presume?"

"Yes, sir. You see, I was sitting outside with him and Remus Lupin, we were waiting for Joni- that is, Joni Crestmont- and Shawn Finnigan, to come back so we could start a game of hide and seek."

"Ah, a fun filled game, don't you agree?"

"Um, yes sir, it is."

"But that is not why you're here, is it? Please continue my dear." 

"Well, we were sitting there, and then suddenly I felt like I was zooming momentarily and everything went blurry. Then I heard Potter's voice in my mind, but it wasn't really _my _mind, it was like-" she gulped visibly. "Like I was in _his _mind. It's happened a few times before since I started school here and once in primary, but not this profoundly. I heard him think 'Wonder what's so important that she can't talk about it here?'- he was referring to my request to speak with Remus alone later on- and I got angry and told him if I wanted him to know, then he'd know, among other things; but I didn't say it aloud like I'd meant to. I said it in his head. Well, naturally I was in shock and of course he was astonished, then afraid, and then he accused me of- of being a Death Eater…" she whispered the last part almost shamefully and Sirius reached over and squeezed her hand comfortingly. She took a deep breath, and continued. "He said that because we've been taught that anything that can get into someone else's mind is most likely dark, and so I must be too." She stopped, biting her lip.

"I see," Dumbledore said softly, considering the young red head before him. "Is there anything else you'd like to tell me?"

She looked up in alarm at his intuition. "I, uh," she wet her lips nervously. "Since I've been back at Hogwarts this year, I've been having the same horrible nightmare, over and over, once a night. I wake sore and exhausted, like I've been through a horrible duel where everything went wrong or maybe like someone preformed the Cruciatus Curse on me." She blushed when Dumbledore raised his eyebrows inquisitively. "Not that I have any experiences with that particular curse. I've been researching." She blushed, if possible, even redder as Dumbledore's face changed from curiosity to amusement. "I also have a vague feeling of déjà vu, like I've been having the same dream for years- is that possible?"

"Anything's possible." His furrowed brow revealed his worry, but he said nothing on the subject. Instead, he focused on the one thing weighing on her. "So Mr. Potter called you a Death Eater?" he asked gently. She nodded. He turned to Sirius, who looked angry. "Do you think Miss Evans is a Death Eater, Mr. Black?"

"No!" Sirius shook his head fiercely. Lily's eyes began to fill with fear and despair._ I'm done for. If Dumbledore believes I'm a Death Eater, all is lost. Do something! **What?** _She asked herself. _Anything!_ Came the frantic reply.

She spoke up hastily, blurting out whatever came to mind. "Do you think I am, sir? A Death Eater, that is, because you know, don't you, that I would never be a Death Eater? Never! Not only am I Muggleborn," Sirius nodded in agreement as she gulped in air, "but- but they were killed by _him_………_Voldemort._ Voldemort killed my parents. Why would I join him?" Sirius clutched her hand tighter. They had gone through the terrible ordeal together in the beginning of third year, just three weeks after they were back at school. He had saved her from drowning herself in her grief, making sure she ate and slept and had a shoulder to cry on. "If anything, I want to make him feel unbearable pain. I want him to suffer like they suffered. I want him to feel what they felt, the fear, the hatred, the confusion-" she stopped, choked with emotion. Finally, she stared up at Dumbledore, eyes filled with sorrow and defiance. Her voice, however, was firm. "I'd die before I joined his side."

"Miss Evans, I never for one second would believe you were a Death Eater," he promised, eyes twinkling briefly.

"Really?" she asked, holding her breath in hope.

"Really," he concurred, smiling reassuringly at her.

"Then, what is happening to me?" she wondered aloud.

"Before we cover that, I believe Mr. Lupin should stop eavesdropping at the door and join us."

The door creaked open of it's own account and emitted a shamefaced Remus. "Sorry, sir," he mumbled. "Sorry Lily. I didn't mean to, it's just, when James upset Lily, I came after her and Nick told me she was up here. I didn't want to interrupt…"

"Did you hear everything?" Dumbledore asked severely.

"Yes sir." He was staring at the floor, face turning an attractive magenta.

Dumbledore smiled cheerfully. "Good."

"Sir?" Remus asked, startled. Even though Dumbledore was the coolest Headmaster Hogwarts had ever seen, and Remus's idol on top of that, Remus was surprised to hear Dumbledore encourage eavesdropping.

"I'll need your help, yours and Mr. Black's, that is if you boys are willing. It might be dangerous."

"Of course I'll help," Sirius and Remus said at the same time.

"Very good. Have a seat Mr. Lupin. Now, Miss Evans, something Mr. Potter said did have some truth to it, although very little. Just because the only recorded mind-reading instances were of the Dark Arts, it should not be a generalization that these powers _are_ dark. There are exceptions to every rule, you know. The power of hearing what others think _is _associated with the Darker Arts, but it is also very uncommon. No casual Death Eater can use this power, as Voldemort cannot."

"Then, how?" Lily asked, nearly breathless with anticipation.

"You three know Voldemort is Salazar Slytherin's one and only living and chosen heir, yes?" They all nodded. "Well, it's not a very well known fact, but when Helga Hufflepuff, another of the founders, died by the hand of Slytherin- her love- she cursed him and his line. All heirs of Slytherin can only love one person within their lifetime. So it was said, so it was done. Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar's love at the time, became his sole love for the rest of his life. He was bound to her, spiritually. She, however, loved Godric Gryffindor; they were to be married. The curse Helga uttered before her death had some curious side effects, probably endorsed by Salazar himself- dark gifts began to show themselves in the chosen lover; gifts that were supposed to win over the love of the girl, make her darker. Rowena, although she refused Salazar, never married Godric either. He was afraid of these gifts she began to show, and so refused her. She married another wizard, one less powerful, and not afraid of her- but her love for Godric never died, only making Slytherin's determination to get her that much more. As is the curse of all Rowena's chosen heirs. They are all loved by the current heir of Slytherin and plagued by these dark gifts."

"Are you suggesting _I_ am an heir of Rowena Ravenclaw? And that I am Voldemort's chosen love?" Lily laughed incredulously. "There's no way! Remember? I am a daughter of Muggles."

"Lily, dear, I know this may be hard for you but denial won't help. Your grandmother, Rosemary Taylor; she was a witch, Lily. When she was about your age, she was sought as a lover; she defied the heir, who in turn drained all of her powers. She went to live with Muggles, married a Muggle. Then your mother was a squib, and we thought you and Petunia would be too, but oh! How you proved us wrong. Your grandmother was overjoyed to hear that the Ravenclaw line hadn't died out. Powerful line you were born into, Lily. Almost all Ravenclaw heirs are female, although there is a large minority that are male. You are indeed heir to Rowena, and I believe, Voldemort's bound love." Lily sank back into her chair, face a pasty white. "It is _imperative_ to your safety that you believe me Lillian. Do you?"

She stared at him with helplessness and a bit of fear. "Yes," she whispered, barely audible. "I believe what you say to be true."

Dumbledore nodded sharply. "Good, all right, moving right along. This is where you come in, boys."

"Us?" Sirius asked slowly, first to recover from the shattering news. "How can Remus and I help?"

"You both know as well as I that you two, and Mr. Potter as well, are the most talented wizards this school has seen since- me."

"What about Voldemort?" Remus asked.

"His power is mostly dark, so I wasn't including him. That means, if you look at the History of Hogwarts, you three are a small number of the minority of more powerful witches and wizards that have attended this school. You are descendents, no other way around it."

"Descendents? _Really_?"

"Yes. Don't confuse descendants with heirs, now. Heirs are much more powerful and far more rare. Only one heir per every generation. The others with the First Four blood? Descendants. Descendants are to protect the heirs in any way they can. Miss Evans here is an heir. You three are descendants. Mr. Black, you and Mr. Potter are Godric's descendents; very distant cousins, I'd say. Mr. Lupin, you are a descendant of Rowena, so you relate more to Miss Evans- and myself."

"Wow," Sirius said finally, exchanging looks with Remus. "Throws you for a loop, doesn't it old buddy?"

"No kidding," Remus concurred softly. "So, what do we do?"

"You will protect Miss Evans."

"That's not necessary," Lily protested, looking startled. "I can't endanger them, they're my friends-"

"Which is why we want to help!" Sirius exclaimed. _How can she suggest that? I'd never let anything happen to her! I'd never forgive myself._

"Miss Evans, I insist that you have protection. Whether it be two inconspicuous students or two very obvious Aurors, it will be done. Your decision."

Lily sighed heavily. "It's not like I could stop them even if I wanted to."

"An excellent point. Now, Miss Evans, I'm sure you understand why I say that you can't stay in your dorm anymore. Just in case. I will provide you with a secret room in which you will move into; there will be a passage installed at the end of the girl's hallway- the one that leads into the different girls dorms. This passage, opened by a certain password, will lead you underneath the common room into secret bedchambers. This is where you shall live until told otherwise. I will make sure the password into your room is voice and blood activated- the enterer will have to state their name, and there will be voice identification, as well as censors that identify one's blood; that, as well as a key, should keep anyone but who's on the list out, as well as specialized wards."

"Also," he paused, reaching into his desk drawer. He drew out a silver necklace, elegant and gorgeous. On the chain, there was an emerald pendant, encased in silver. The orb wasn't completely emerald, though. It was a shifting of greens and blues. "This pendant has so many ancient charms on it I don't think I even know them all, but it will protect you. It can even turn the wearer invisible, if the individual is powerful enough. A channel for magic, you could say. If the orb turns purple, you are indeed invisible. If it turns yellow while a person is speaking to you, then they are lying to you. If it turns blood red, you are in danger. I want you to take it and wear it."

"Oh, I couldn't!" Lily objected feebly, in love with the pendant already.

Dumbledore smiled kindly, like a grandfather smiling at his favorite granddaughter. "This is part of your heritage, Lily, and it is a part of you. It's also for your protection. Promise me you'll wear it always."

"I will," she breathed, clasping the chain around her neck and tucking the pendant underneath her robes.

"Okay, that's done. Next, boys, I am going to have to move you into the vacant eighth dorm, where you will live until further notice. There will be a secret panel in the room where you can be transported to the passageway underneath that will lead to her new room, so that you can reach her at all times. Miss Evans, tell your friends that you were caught in the Restricted Area and are in confinement until we decide otherwise- boys, just tell them we have a foreign exchange student coming in, that we're placing him in your dorm space and you two were picked to move into the eighth dorm to make room."

"Won't they know the jig is up when a student doesn't come?" Sirius asked.

"Ah, but we will have a student come."

"Why is there an eighth dorm when there are only seven years?" Remus wondered.

"Long ago, when Hogwarts was first founded, students were required to attend eight years of school. Any other questions?"

"I have a question," Lily said softly. "When will we move? Won't it be sort of obvious if we do it now, in the middle of a Friday afternoon when no one has classes?"

"Very sharp, Miss Evans. I will notify all of Monday's teachers that you are in my care and have the day off. We will move your things to your respective rooms, get you settled in, work on the passwords and passageways, even test them out. Then you'll have the afternoon off to study, to relax, and talk amongst yourselves. And, I'm sorry Miss Evans, you will only leave your room for meals, classes, specialized trips to the library, events such as Quidditch matches and Hogsmeade weekends; and even then you will be under the constant protection of Mr. Lupin and Mr. Black when not in your room."

"I understand."

"Good. Now, if that is all, I bid you good day, as it is almost dinnertime and I am sure you're ravenous. Mr. Lupin, if I may speak with you a moment more?"

Remus nodded as Lily and Sirius got up and walked out of the room, Lily leaning heavily on Sirius. "Wonder what that's all about?" Sirius asked her, guiding her to the Great Hall.

Lily just shook her head wearily. "I am Voldemort's chosen love? Oh, Sirius, when did things get so complicated?"

"I don't know, Lil, I don't know."

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And so concludes chapter three, Dumbledore Is An Egghead, aka Know-It-All. Please review, and come back again when I update! Don't worry, I WILL update. Just gonna be gone a bit….'sall.

Until then, everlasting love to any who have read this, even if they don't review (at least you inspected a piece of me, as my writing is an extention of myself).

Crys


	4. Living in Cloak and Dagger, Fighting Sus...

Disclaimer: It's not owned by me and I'm not making any money, please don't sue me.

I'm BACK! I know you all thought I'd died or something, but I did warn you I would be gone for three weeks. But alas, the prodigal writer has returned at last! And with a new chapter too! *Beams* Aren't you so proud of me?! While I was gone, I got tons of reviews (all of which I loved and read at least twice apiece). Eleven! Eleven wonderful, masterful, beautiful reviewers! I was so happy I almost spontaneously combusted…which would have been very messy. Believe you me, though, I was overflowing with warm fuzzies and the like…ever been so happy that you randomly get the chills and kind of shiver and twitch when you do and people look at you weird…uh, like some people might be looking at me now…*starts muttering to self* must remember, stop while you're ahead, I repeat, stop while ahead…

And thank you to my lovely beta, Char!

Alrighty then, to reviewers:

Lady Unluck13- Ah, this chapter's _first_ reviewer! Dear-heart, I'm glad you like it, and if the only complaint you have is length, then I can certainly fix that for you…uh, well, actually, this chapter just turned out longer than the others because I couldn't find a stopping point…so, I temporarily fixed the length, and I hope the ones to come aren't too short, since that's just a waste of my time considering how long it takes to post…getting off subject, where was I? Oh, thank you for reviewing!

Rena Lupin- I try…hope this chapter is just as "loveable!" Enjoy darlin!

stellar- faith? You have faith in _me_?! *bursts into tears* you, my doll, are one in a million. Reviewing all the time, inspiring me to be better! So far, I hope you're liking the direction the fic is taking, since you were originally just testing this fic out. Okay, okay, down to the business! I hate to disappoint you, but while I try to keep this fiction lighthearted, the drama gets away with me sometimes…(however, if you're not minding the mild slash, there is another fic of mine I might post soon called A Different Kind Of Girl, and it does have _some_ drama, which I can't seem to get rid of, but it is much more humorous, imo…let me know if you're interested, and I might post it early, just for you!) and hey, I get it, she's not a bimbo, but she's still kinda girly, with the crying and the giggles and stuff…I'm glad it wasn't just me doing a horrible job, and personal preferences are embraced in this Self Help Group! Oops, wait, that's something else. Uh, this… this fic? Yeah, in this fic (not S.H. Group) personalities are a must, even in reviews! I promise you, you make sense to me stell! Happy reading dove.

doompaw- I am a reason to return to FF.net? *blush* I'm flattered! Sorry it took so long to update!

Tinki-chan - thank you, I appreciate your reviewing!

Flame Rhiannon- Thank you, ma belle, I like it too (my fic, I mean). Did you know, that when I grow up, besides being a writer, I was thinking about teaching on and off, as I write? So I think what you want to be is cool! (lol) Oh no, the dreaded but! I understand what you mean about Lily finding things out for her own, but see, the thing is, this has been happening to her for years, and has worsened dramatically in a short period of time- she's scared, and she's also starting to think maybe there is something dark about her. All she knows is that it's starting to cause problems. I was trying to imply that she'd been struggling with it for years, and during that time, she was trying to figure it out on her own, but she couldn't find anything (it was a well kept secret.). Sorry if that didn't come across the way I wanted it to. I'll try to let her be more independent about her sleuthing later on!

Shinnyu Kudzu- Wow! You made my day, madam, to be sure! I am very original! Woo hoo! That makes me so happy, because being cliché is one of the worst things that can happen to a fic. I truly love Siri/Rem too, I think they are just so cute together! Enjoy this chapter!

mackenzie- hey mac, I see you're back again, my dove! I'm glad you liked the 'heir descendent plot.' Truthfully, I almost changed it completely, but I thought Lily being an actual death eater (even with the twist I was putting on it) was too trite, so I guess you lucked out! Thanks for reviewing!

akisawana- _we?_ Ah well, "we" means more readers, so thank you!

Senya Starseeker- Thank you! You know, these characters with their damn personalities are so hard to control, but I try to reign 'em in when I can…otherwise, they mostly boss _me_ around, and it just comes shooting out of my fingers their way. This chapter is promising more detail, and some plot, that will leave you wondering what the hell I am doing next. Um, at least, I _hope_ it does!

And now, for your reading pleasure!

Chapter 4: Living in Cloak and Dagger, Fighting Suspicions

Refresher from the previous chapter:

Lily just shook her head wearily. "I am Voldemort's chosen love? Oh, Sirius, when did things get so complicated?"

"I don't know, Lil, I don't know."

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"Remus, you must listen to me! She _will_ understand. She is your friend and she will not desert you. She has to know. If you're supposed to be guarding her, she will notice when you disappear monthly. She will realize what it means, and it will hurt more that you didn't trust her."

"But sir- now, with this whole thing with Voldemort, Lily'll think I work for him. She won't believe in me anymore. She'll see me as a monster, she could tell anyone!"

"Lily Evans, heir of Ravenclaw, desert her friend because he happens to be a werewolf?" Dumbledore snorted in disbelief and aggravation. "I'd more likely believe you if you told me Professor McGonagall had stopped giving out detentions and held hoe downs in her classroom! Tell me, Remus, would she do that? Would your friend Lily, who you've known for 5 years, do that? What does your heart say?"

"_I don't know_," he groaned, burying his face in his hands.

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Remus hurried into the near empty Great Hall, late. Spotting Sirius and Lily sitting alone at the end of Gryffindor table, he rushed over to them. Lily was staring at her plate, not eating a thing, and Sirius was whispering comforting things to her. He looked up when Remus plopped down across from him. "How's she doing then?" Remus asked softly.

Sirius shook his head and mouthed 'not too good.' Remus nodded his head in understanding. 'What shall we do?' he mouthed back. Sirius shrugged his shoulders. Lily glared up at them. "I don't appreciate you both talking about me as if I were not here! I'm fine, really…I'm just not hungry, that's all. I think I'll head up to the Tower." As she stood, so did the boys. "No! I just, I need to be alone for a bit. Finish your dinners. I'll see you at seven thirty, Remus. And Sirius, we'll meet you at nine, in the common room." Robes swishing, she stalked out of the Great Hall in a graceful manner that hid her inner turmoil.

"Poor girl," Sirius muttered. "Can you imagine the horror of finding out a guy like Voldie is in _lurve_ with you?"

"Sort of," Remus replied shortly, thinking of his own love. Sirius looked at him curiously. Remus, uncomfortable, spoke up hastily. "Never mind. Anyway, this is better, I was going to have to meet you later tonight to discuss some things Dumbledore and I talked about. Now is as good a time as any."

"And?" Sirius asked nervously.

"First off, he gave me these- oh, I don't know, medallions, I guess. Shaped like a dragon of some sort. We're to wear them around our necks. They hum whenever she's distressed, in trouble, that kind of thing. Corresponds with the necklace he gave her earlier."

"All right, Dumbledore," Sirius whistled approvingly, taking his from Remus's hand and linking it around his neck, Remus following suit. They both tucked the metal dragon underneath their robes, so as not to draw any attention to them.

"Okay, we eat meals with her as well as escorting her practically everywhere; including classes, meals, events, back to the room, etc. We check on her three times a night after she's retired for bed." Remus ticked off the points on his hand.

Sirius nodded grimly. "Good. I don't want anything to happen to her, but I feel less like a stalker when Dumbledore orders that we check up on her at night. I would have looked in on her even if he hadn't said anything, but this way- I feel better about it, you know?"

Remus agreed. "And," he paused, looking unsure. "Dumbledore knows we'll need time of our own, but think about it…she can't leave her room otherwise. He was hoping we'd be able to spare some time, hang out with her, do homework together, anything. I'm willing to do it, but you don't have to-"

"I'll do it," Sirius pledged fervently. "She's like a sister to me."

"Okay," Remus let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. "I would've done it anyway, though. I mean, can you imagine? Staying in a solitary room, with nothing to do, no one to talk to, for hours upon days upon months?"

"I'd go insane." Sirius stated.

"You are insane," another voice offered from behind them. They looked up sharply; James. "Hullo Padfoot, Moony. What's up?"

_Please don't say anything stupid, Padfoot_, Remus begged Sirius silently. "How much did you hear?" Sirius asked worriedly. _Too late._

"Not much, except for the insane part. Why?" James looked downcast. "There's nothing we can't tell each other, at least, I don't think. What aren't you telling me?" he questioned.

Sirius looked up at him pleadingly. "Please, Prongs, please don't ask us. We can't tell you. We're sorry, truly-"

"It has to do with that Lily girl, doesn't it?" James demanded quietly.

"Sort of. James, it- we-" Remus faltered at the look on James's face. James had befriended him when he'd been alone and miserable. He _owed_ James. _Say something to make it right_, he thought. "James, ask Dumbledore. If he thinks you should know, then you will." As James's face fell, Remus's heart fell with it. _Wrong answer, Remus, you daft bugger!_

"Dumbledore?" James asked.

"Yes, him," Remus said.

"Fine," James fumed. "Just- fine! Seeing as my supposed friends won't tell me, I 

think I will go talk to him. I'd rather talk to him than you two blokes."

"Don't be like that," Remus begged, but Sirius spoke up in an icy cold voice.

"Well, I'd rather it too. James, what's your problem anyway? I mean, really! _'Supposed friends'_? Are you off your rocker? You know us better than anyone! Would we keep it from you unless it was important? Maybe we need to find someone else to hang out with if you've got a problem trusting us, James. Doesn't sound like much of a friend to me, how about you, Remus?"

James's mouth fell open and he stared at Sirius. Sirius met his eyes momentarily then studied the table as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. "Maybe you should," James replied softly. He blinked, as if seeing his surroundings again, and then stomped out of the Great Hall.

"Prongs, wait!" Remus called after him, but he left anyway. Amber eyes alight with anger and frustration, he whirled on Sirius. "Why did you do that? Why?!"

"Had to," Sirius replied in a dull voice, eyes looking dead. "He would've been too curious about why we stopped hanging out with him, would've snooped around until he got answers. And don't defend him, because he would. We would too, in his place. This way, he thinks we're mad at him. It's for the best. So we get a 'new best friend', someone we hang around all the time, someone we already know-"

"Lily," Remus finished for him. "Lily is going to be our 'new best friend', isn't she?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lily clambered into the empty common room and sank down into a chair near the roaring fire, weary to the bone. _No one's here, _she mused, slightly confused. Then it dawned on her. _It's Friday. Who'd be in the common room? This whole weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend. How could I forget? Oh yeah, I don't have normal teenage problems- who cares about Hogsmeade? Life sucks._ Her face was awash with both fear and rage, both foreboding and a sickly sweet need for vengeance. Too many had suffered for her and now she knew why. Her parents- they hadn't deserved to die, it hadn't been their time. Petunia- miserable and alone in the orphanage, the last drop of love she'd had for her 'freak' sister wrung away, filled by a black void fed by hatred and blame and resentment. Her unborn brother, Eric, dead in the womb of her mother, not ever knowing life, never experiencing it's joys and sadness.

Lost in the past, staring blankly into the flames for long minutes, tears swashing down her pale cheeks unchecked. She shifted her thoughts, relived everything that had happened to her in the past few hours. She hadn't thought her life could get any worse- boy, was she wrong. Her world had gone from being slightly saddening and a little grief stricken to bleak and depressing in such a short time. Her thoughts shifted to her current friends, the only similarity to family left in her crumpled life. "What do I tell Belle?" she tossed out into the seemingly empty common room.

"How about you tell her you're evil?" an unwanted voice spoke up. Lily lurched from her seat, glaring at the intruder of her solitude. "How about you tell her she's friends with a traitor?"

"James Potter," she spat. "What are you doing here? I thought I told you to never speak to me again!"

"Hey, I'm not one for orders- especially from someone who's in league with _Voldemort_."

"You don't even know what you're saying," she cried, trying to push past him to no avail.

"Oh, I don't, do I? Then explain what happened this afternoon. How did you do it?"

"Do what?" she asked brokenly in an attempt to avoid the subject completely.

_Do what?_ He mimicked in her mind. _Come on, own up!_

"Own up to what?" she whispered desperately.

_See, you can't hide it. You hear me, don't you? But, if you can hear me, then why can't I hear you? What do you hide, Lily?_

"Never call me Lily. Never. Only my friends call me that. And you, James 'Lainie-is-it?-Or-maybe-Lexi?-You're-in-my-year?-My-house?-Friends-with-two-of-my-best-friends?' Potter, are not one of my friends."

"For a mind reader, you're way off," he taunted. "My middle name is actually Tristan. James Tristan Potter, at your service, your Darkness."

"Fuck you, James _Tristan_ Potter. I hope you have a nice life," she snapped, ducking past him and marching up to her dormitory.

"You too, _Lily_!" he called after her.

"Evans to you, Potter, even though frankly I don't think you're worthy enough to refer to me at all," she shot back over her shoulder, slamming the door behind her.

"Well," he shouted at the door. "Who says I'd refer to you anyway? Waste of my time, in my opinion. Hey! I'm not finished with you." After standing there a moment, he slowly grinned. He could still get to her. Her mind was still open to him. _You traitorous snake! You can't hide forever behind closed doors. Wait until everyone sees you for what you truly are!_ The only reply he got was a yelp and then a loud rustling kind of sound followed. Only moments after the rustling began a moaning also emerged from the room, an unearthly sound, not like anything he'd ever heard before, distressed and utterly afraid. Satisfaction quickly overlapped his apprehension and he headed back down to the common room.

He'd only just plopped down into the chair across from the one Lily had vacated when the portrait hole flew open, Remus and Sirius toppling in. Spotting James, they stopped their sudden dash for the girls' dormitories. Frozen now, James could see Sirius clutched something that hung around his neck, something that seemed to be humming, while Remus was hastily shoving a similar something underneath his robes and nudging Sirius.

"What did you do to her now?" Sirius demanded angrily.

"Nothing," James replied shortly. "What have you got in your hand?"

Sirius seemed to realize what he was clutching and also shoved it under his robe. "Nothing."

Remus's eyes flicked to his watch and he cleared his throat, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Seven thirty. I've got to go. See you at nine, Padfoot," he said, trying to sound casual. Turning, he headed up to the boys' dormitories without a backward glance.

James seethed silently as Sirius, without a word, sat on the couch, and eyed James. James was so angry, he could barely see and at the same time, he felt incredibly hurt. They were keeping more secrets from him. Staring into space, he was startled when Sirius suddenly sighed, sounding tired. "I can't do this, Jamie, I just can't."

"Do what, _Sirius_?" James asked coldly with an air of disdain.

"I can't lie to you. You're like a brother, and brothers don't keep secrets. It's not like I wanted to fight with you earlier, in the Hall. I didn't know how to handle this, I've never kept things from you before. I thought if you were mad at me then it would be easier. But it hurts more. So even if you'll still be mad, I can't keep you in the dark." Sighing again, he stood up and headed towards the dormitories.

"Where're you going?" James asked quietly, subdued by Sirius' odd display of emotion.

"To get my homework."

"I thought you were going to tell me what's up with you and Moony."

"_I_ won't. Tomorrow, you and me go see Dumbledore. Until then, might as well be productive. I have one mean Herbology paper due Monday."

"Sirius Black, doing homework on a Friday? No one would believe it."

"Well, I've had a rough day. Want me to grab your things while I'm up there? We can do it together."

James' shoulders loosened, and he sagged thankfully against the chair. He and Sirius would be all right. "Sure."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alrighty then, some turmoil, some arguing, some sparks aflyin', a mystery…I think I'm done here.

*author glances at her trashed surroundings, which during her frenzied writing, has changed from a normal bedroom to something that is looking more and more like Gotham City*

Stupid Two-Face, dumbass Riddler, and/or asshole Mr. Freeze…damn them all for destroying my city while I was busy! *author then notices the bat signal shining in the sky* Well shitola! Duty calls, my ducks, I mean, not just anyone can help the super pimp Batman and his sidekick idiot Robin…only me! Uh, did I say me? I meant Batwoman…yeah, Batwoman will assist them!

Hope you enjoy while I…er, BW saves Gotham! Reviews are savored like chocolate on your tongue!

*author wanders off muttering to self* I wonder if he'll let me drive the Batmobile this time……

Crys


	5. Secrets In The Night

Disclaimer: It's not owned by me and I'm not making any money, please don't sue me.

Thanks issued to beta of the year, Char!

Alrighty then, to reviewers:

Tinki-chan – Hey Tink! Good to see you again. Thanks for reviewing.

freakyfairy – Brilliant?! Well, thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. Cheers!

Rena Lupin – I'm sorry I'm messing with your version of Tom Riddle, but I'm glad you'll keep reading nonetheless. I'll try not to make him too evil. Thanks.

Mad Amecom PTE – Hopefully the task of watching over Lily is not as daunting as it seems. I'll look into that. I hear your call for Sirius/Remus action, and I salute you. However, my dear, we have a problem…this is going to be progressing slowly, for them, excruciating torture and all that, but I have hints of it for you scattered to the four corners of this fic, especially this chapter, so hopefully it will satisfy you for now. My main goal, after all, is to please my readers. Might slip in an accidental grope sometime soon, eh?

Senya Starseeker – I didn't mean for James to come off as such a jerk, but in all my fics, he seems to have that effect. I, personally, don't understand it, but hey, I think in this fic he's just being cautious and territorial. Anyway, glad you enjoy. (P.S. I wouldn't trust Snape's memories if I were you.)

Daine Yuy – I don't know, you might be right, but here's hoping this chapter will explain why she was put in Gryffindor. Quite simply, even though she had Ravenclaw bloodlines, she had Gryffindor characteristics. 

Now, folks, put your hands together, for the chapter you've all been waiting for!

Chapter 5: Secrets In The Night

Refresher from the previous chapter:

"Sirius Black, doing homework on a Friday? No one would believe it."

"Well, I've had a rough day. Want me to grab your things while I'm up there? We can do it together."

James shoulders loosened, and he sagged thankfully against the chair. He and Sirius would be all right. "Sure."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Lil?" Remus called softly into the twilight. He was up on the roof outside of her dorm room. "Lily, its fifteen minutes past time. Are you there?"  


"Yeah," came the muffled reply.

"Well, would you like to join me out here on the roof?"

"One moment," she called. Remus sat back and stared up at the sky, contemplating the 'Prongs Problem', as he referred to it in his mind. What Sirius had done wasn't going to work, and they needed to come up with a different plan. After a few minutes, Lily appeared, eyes a bit red and puffy, but dry. _What did Prongs do to her?_

Lily chuckled harshly. "How'd you know? Well, Potter had to walk in on me while I was thinking and we just had a row, is all. And he realized how he could hurt me most. So there you have it."

"It's getting stronger, isn't it?" he asked her, worried.

She nodded. "Yeah, lots of things come through. Seems like I have some kind of selection or barrier though, some people I hear, others are silent. I'm going to have to learn to block all of them out, especially as it gets stronger and I hear more people, although hearing exactly what our fellow peers are thinking about in classes like Divination and History of Magic would be entertaining, to say the least. There is something though, Remus, and it frightens me. I mean, your thoughts come in clearer than most, and I suppose that is because you're a descendant of Ravenclaw, but James- he comes in clearer than anyone, it's as if what he is thinking is really being said aloud to me. It's frightening. I respond without thinking. What is happening to me? Just awhile ago, when I was feeling- distressed- from my row with Potter, he shocked me into…into doing wandless magic."

Remus sucked in a shaky breath. "What happened?"

"Well, we'd just finished our row and I'd slammed the door on him and I took to…uh, violently attacking our dorm while he was shouting at me through the door- then he said something in my mind, he called me a traitorous snake and told me I couldn't hide behind closed doors forever- something like that, I don't quite remember. That's what the whole row was about, you know, him being a git accusing me of being dark, evil, uh, in league with Voldemort, let's not forget that one."

"Shit Lils," Remus sighed. "I'll talk to him. He has no right to say those things to you."

"He took me by surprise, contacting my mind so suddenly, causing me to trip. I'm sure I called out and my hand flung out to stop my fall- I'm kind of confused about this part- but it's like the motion of my hand preformed the spell. I started a whirlwind in my room, it was destroying everything and I couldn't find my wand at all. It hurt me, though, that was scariest. I was in so much pain. My head was throbbing, it was hard to breathe and it felt like my body had shattered into a thousand pieces. I could only roll over and over on the floor, moaning and hugging myself. Then, suddenly, it all stopped. I spent the last ten or twenty minutes setting everything right with my wand." She gazed up at him, looking like a lost kitten. "I'm not even in control of myself anymore."

"Oh Lily," Remus whispered. "I'm sorry, this shouldn't be happening to you. We'll go see Dumbledore tomorrow about it. Is the dorm all cleaned up? Do you need any help? Want me to go back to the common room and pound James to a pulp?"

She grinned weakly. "Thanks. For everything. Yeah, I want to see Dumbledore. Some things were still a bit unclear. What if I lose control in class?" She shuddered momentarily at the very thought. Shaking it off, she chuckled softly. "I'd love to see my werewolf bodyguard jump the pansy boy." Remus's face crumpled and she clamped a hand to her mouth but it was too late, it was out in the open.

"You- you know? That I'm- I'm a horrible monster once a month? A werewolf?" She nodded slowly. "How long?" he asked hoarsely.

"Since before we were friends- I knew before the train ride back to school in our first year, after winter break," she whispered.

"I knew you were too smart for your own good. And you still became my friend? _Are_ my friend? You're not afraid of me? Afraid I'm in league with Voldemort and am plotting against you?"

She looked scandalized. "What? No, never. Remus, it's not your fault. You're my sweet Remus, my smart, caring, wonderful Remus who has what I like to call 'PMS'." She smiled slightly at this. "Werewolves are misunderstood; when you're the wolf, you're not in control, it is. Wolf instincts and reactions capture my sweet Remus for the full moon, but they are not the same person. I love you for who you are and nothing would keep me from being friends with you. You're my best friend, one of the best I've ever had, you know that right?"

Remus looked shocked. He had never been anyone's best friend before. He'd never had a best of the best, just a few really good friends and some acquaintances. "But I thought- Sirius-"

"Sirius is like a brother to me, not my best friend. You're my best friend."

"Really?" he asked, daring to hope.

"Really. It hurt more than anything when you told the Marauders and not me, in second year."

"Well, I didn't actually tell them, per say. They figured it out and asked me."

"That makes me feel a little better. I understand why you hid it. And- well, tell Sirius and Peter I say have fun hanging out with you on the full moon, but to be careful, transforming is very dangerous."

Remus just looked at her in amazement. "I love you too, Lily Evans. I won't let anything happen to you, you must believe in me."

"I never had a reason not to," she responded lightly.

"So, no good luck tidings for dear old Potter?" Remus asked jokingly.

"No," she replied coldly, eyes becoming unfamiliar icy chips of jade. "I hope he splinches himself."

Remus winced slightly. Although he was a bit upset with James, he didn't want him to splinch himself just because he was trying to help him out with the transformations. "Is this what you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked.

She nodded. "I thought it was time you knew that I knew. I wanted to wait for you to tell me in your own time, and earlier, in the clearing when I first arranged this meeting, I intended to talk about something else. But then, with the Voldemort thing and all, I figured life was too short to keep secrets from you, one of the only people I have left to trust. Uh, let's see, here's another secret of mine- until I was seven, I slept with the closet door closed so the 'monsters' wouldn't get me. The door was supposed to stop them."

"I had a fish once," Remus admitted, catching on to Lily's game. "I went on and on for two months about how it was my familiar and it just had to be coaxed out of it's shell. My parents were ready to commit me to Mungo's."

"Ah, okay Remus. Sure you don't still believe that?" she teased.

"What! I do not!"

"Well, I've never been French kissed. Most the guys I've kissed really suck at it. I mean, where's this mind blowing kiss I'm supposed to receive from my true love?"

"Don't know. I'm not sure I believe in true loves. I hate studying."

"Oh my god! Me too. Just because I like to read, doesn't mean I love to study or anything. Everyone thinks I'm such a bookworm, or…"

"Or the brains of the outfit," Remus continued forlornly.

"Exactly," Lily agreed. Looking at Remus, she sobered. "What's wrong?"

"I'm different."

"Yeah, Remus, you are. I don't understand, though."

"I mean, I don't really fit in with the guys. Almost everyone in this school thinks I'm a sissy, a nobody who needs James and Sirius to protect me, when really, I could break every bone in Lucius Malfoy's body without breaking a sweat, if I let myself go. But I don't, I can't, I won't. I burrow in my books as a defense. Something to save myself from the wolf, you know. Besides, I'd get sent home and probably to a Werewolf camp if I did snap. People just think I'm their pet project, almost like muggle community service, you know?"

"Oh, Remus, I don't think you're just a project to them. I just, I don't know what to say, how to help-"

"You know what? Sometimes I wonder if James and Sirius and Peter only stick around because they feel sorry for me. Or because they are afraid of me. But then I remember what they're risking to make my life better, and I feel guilty. Still, I have to wonder, I mean I am me, and I've had the worst record when it comes to friends."

"That's in the past, Remus. Is there anything I can do or say?

Sighing, he grinned wanly. "No one can help, Lily, it's enough that you listen."

"You're welcome to chat anytime Remus. I'll always listen."

"I'm allergic to toast. Not bread in general, just toast."

Lily took the hint, and thought for a moment. "I am obsessed with the stars. Real stars, as in our galaxy."

"I'm a real star, baby, and right here in the convenience of your very own dorm instead of thousands of miles away," a voice called from the window underneath them. Swirling silver eyes glowed up at them. "Want to be obsessed with me?"

"Hey Siri. Is it nine already?" Lily exclaimed. _Time flies up here._

"Nine thirty by my watch. I came to find you. So _this_ is your secret place."

"Yeah." Lily's brow furrowed. "How did you find it?"

"I can sense it," he replied, looking at Remus and patting his chest.

"Okay," Lily said with raised eyebrows.

"So- what are you doing up here?" Sirius demanded, climbing up to join them in their little nook.

"Revealing secrets."

"I'm not too good at ping pong," Sirius said after a moment, completely serious, causing Lily and Remus to burst out laughing.

"I have barely any hair on my arms," Lily admitted.

"I am licensed to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in emergency situations," Remus said.

"I am one with the force. Give me a light saber and call me Yoda." That was Sirius.

"I adore all kinds of music. I even have a magical stereo. That'll give me something to do all those hours alone."

"You won't be alone Lily," Sirius piped up. "You didn't think we'd leave you alone? Tsk, tsk. That would be horrible! Then we'd have to deal with an insane heir! Wait, don't we already?"

Remus chuckled while Lily swatted at her friend. "Not funny Sirius."

"Then why are you grinning?" Lily just grunted in response.

"Anyway, uh, I write." That was Remus, always the peacemaker.

"Write what?" Lily wondered.

"Poetry, mostly," the boy mumbled, flushed to his ears. Darting a glance at Sirius to make sure he wasn't laughing, Remus was surprised. Sirius seemed to be studying him intently, unaware of the awkward silence rising. "Padfoot," Remus cleared his throat. "Your turn."

"Oh. I can play the piano. Anything from Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to Fir Elise to Mozart. And my voice isn't that bad."

"I can dance 73 different types of dances- I prefer jazz and pop, freelance- that's my favorite," Lily stated proudly.

"Really?" Sirius asked eagerly. "Maybe you could teach me the salsa sometime."

"Sure. Sometime."

"I have an odd fascination with Muggle murder mystery books," Remus admitted. 

"I hate rabbits. They scare me, seriously, I swear they're apart of a secret alliance, wandering around trying to molest people."

Lily laughed out loud at this and Remus exchanged a beaming look with Sirius. _Maybe this year is going to be more fun than I'd originally thought. Not so dreary and 'to the death'-ish. And hey, she laughed, right?_

Lily motioned for them to lean in and whispered. "At my old school, I held the record for belching the ABC's the clearest and the loudest."

"Ew!" Sirius wailed, pretending to be horrified.

"I can count how many dates I've been out on with one hand."

"Oh, that's sad, Moony. You need to get out more," Sirius scolded, secretly pleased. "Well, this may come as a shock to you all, as I am one hot, sexy, sweet, charming, heroic, funny, intelligent-"

"You forgot modest!" Lily added helpfully.

"No, you just didn't let me finish-ahem, where was I? Oh yes! Funny, intelligent, talented, _modest_, dangerously brilliant mo-fo; however, looks can be deceiving. Alas, I am a virgin."

"Wow, didn't see that coming," Remus said, genuinely shocked.

"I've got one that'll totally blow your socks off. You ready? My soul mate, my intended, is old smelly He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I am Voldie's true love; why aren't the socks erupting off your feet?" Lily wondered sarcastically. _Uh-oh_, Remus thought.

"Maybe our shoes are stopping them," Sirius suggested gravely.

"Maybe some of us don't use our brains to their fullest potential," Remus retorted, looking pointedly at Sirius.

"Yeah, but Petey tries really hard to keep up with the rest of us, so we shouldn't say anything to him about it," Sirius argued.

"Point proven," Remus said to Lily, who just shook her head.

"Wait, Lil that one doesn't count! We already knew it."

"Fine, fine, you _had_ to be sharp about that of all things, didn't you Sirius?"

"Hey! I resent that! I'll have you know that I am brilliant."

"Yeah, Sirius, sure you are," Lily teased.

"I am!" he squawked indignantly.

"He is." This was Remus. Smiling indulgently at Sirius, he said it again. "You are."

"Damn straight," Sirius agreed, eyeing Remus, searching for any sarcasm on his part. However, Remus was speaking what he genuinely thought, from all appearances, and Sirius was again secretly pleased. Or maybe not so secretly. He didn't realize it, but he was grinning like a maniac at Remus, a goofy, happy-go-lucky kind of grin with a bit of shyness. _Different from his usual, self-assured smirk_, Lily noted._ And Remus. There's that smile again. The one he saves especially for Sirius. He always listens to Sirius, genuinely listens, no matter how crazy Sirius' plans are. And he tolerates him. I've never seen him get angry with Sirius, truly ticked off. That smile speaks of adoration- like he would go to the ends of the earth for Sirius. Like he's madly in love- oh shit! Hit me over the head with a shovel! Oh boy……… I think it's time to interrupt this intense staring contest._

"I sing in the shower…no talent whatsoever- and I don't just sing, I dance too. Practice my routines in there."

"Naked?" Sirius demanded, yanking his eyes away from molten gold, as though he was getting a hold of himself.

"Uh, _yeah_," Lily replied, rolling her eyes. _Sarcasm will surely cut this mood in half. I hope._ "Most people shower naked, Sirius, if you didn't know."

"Do you sell tickets?" Remus' expression fell a bit and now that Lily knew, she 

couldn't help but notice. "I know a lot of guys who would pay top dollar to see you dance naked," Sirius continued confidently. "It's opportunity knocking, can't you hear it?" His only response was a smack on the back of the head. "Guess not."

"Pig," she muttered dangerously, still scanning Remus' face with worry. Problem was, she was glaring due to Sirius' crack about selling tickets, and Remus met her gaze tentatively. Her expression softened, and Remus released the breath he'd been holding. 

"I almost got sorted into Ravenclaw."

"That wouldn't have been so bad," Lily argued, remembering how, as a first year, she had prayed she would be stuck into Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.

"Yes it would have! I hate studying! And I hate those stupid, stuck up know it alls who think that just because they are in the house for cleverness, that means they're the smartest."

"True, true," Sirius agreed sagely, nodding his head. "But Rem, I didn't know you despised studying so much. If you do, then why do y-" Lily shot Sirius a look that plainly said 'shut your arsehole' and he quickly got the message. "Okay, me, me, me! My turn! I almost got sorted into Slytherin. It told me I was a devious little kiddie who could have done great in Slytherin. I was like, hell no, bucko, you ain't putting me in that hole of a house. It took forever to convince the hat I didn't belong there despite my prankster outlook on life."

"Well, the hat told me I was a Gryffindor to the core despite my bloodlines. Until today that totally confused me. Anyway, that's not really a secret, so here's one. My shampoo- it smells really, really good. Like- I don't know, like a mixture of the four elements, fire and water, air and earth- dashed with a bit of magic-the smell reminds me of erotic, mind blowing s- never mind," she stopped, blushing. "It reminds me of wholeness. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, actually," Remus agreed, overlooking what she'd almost said. Sirius, however, couldn't resist.

"My, my, Lillian, that was very crude of you," he admonished prudishly, wagging a finger at her. "You were going to say your shampoo reminded you of erotic, mind blowing sex. That's pretty brazen, dearie, not at all the primness I'd imagined from a good little girl like you. Do you order it specially?"

She blushed even more. "Sirius, I meant the smell, it makes you feel like you've just had mind blowing sex- not that I know, but there's just something about it…ahem, Remus, I think it's your turn." She prayed Sirius would follow the focus-shift, as her only defense so far was stumbling over the explanation, which wasn't helping her case. Sirius obviously couldn't take a hint.

"I think it smells like lavender," Sirius continued, looking thoughtful. "Your hair, that is."

"Remus?" Lily pleaded.

Jealous that Sirius knew what Lily's hair smelled like, Remus stumbled around for something to say, sounding much like Lily had only moments before. "Uh- err- that is, it's not a deep secret, but I can't say I like oranges all that much. Too messy. And I am obsessed with the muggle cereal, Cap'N Crunch." Lily shot him a curious look, and Sirius didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. As usual. Under Lily's all-seeing gaze, Remus mentally smacked himself on the head. _Idiot!_

"I hide it well, but I have a deep respect for McGonagall, as well as some minimal affection for the old bat."

"I can play Quidditch, and I'm not half bad, actually."

"What position?" Sirius wondered.

"Chaser. No need to ask you two, Mr. Gryffindor Keeper and his side kick Gryffindor Beater."

Sirius grinned. "How come Moony got to be Mister? I'm no sidekick."

"Yeah," Remus said, pretending to agree. "He's a freak show all his own. How could you have made such a mistake?"

Sirius just pouted. For five whole seconds. The small ache he felt in his chest was ignored as he donned his usual devilish look. "In fact, we're in need of a thumping good Chaser, aren't we, Remmie?"

"Yes indeed. That snobby fourth year Jane, she's leaving for France in three weeks. You remember her, Padfoot, the girl who worships the ground you walk on? The girl that almost pounded your last girlfriend into a pulp?" _Like I wanted to._

"I never thought about trying out before," Lily said. "There aren't usually any openings."

"Well, now there is one. I could talk to Jamie."

"Oh, and that'll _so_ get me on the team. Don't you remember, Sirius? I'm dark and evil. Run for your lives, I can see into your heads and have wandless magic fits."

"What?" Sirius demanded.

"Oh- oops, I guess I forgot to tell you."

"About?" he pressed.

"Yuck, I don't want to relive it. Remus, you explain it to Snuffles here, I'm off to bed." **I have something else we need to talk about Remus. In private. Uh, how about we meet in the Shack, tomorrow at noon?**

"Snuffles?" Sirius demanded as she climbed down into the window.

Remus shot her a curious look, but nodded. "Will do, Lils." _Tell him, and meet you._ "Night."

"Snuffles?"

**Thanks Remmie. **"Goodnight Remus, Sirius. Thanks for everything today."

"No problem. Sleep well, Lily."

"Yeah, and goodnight," Sirius echoed. After she disappeared, he looked at Remus. "Snuffles?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So ends chapter 5. Not really much action, but a lot of things get aired out into the open. A silly, but at the same time, much needed chapter.

Thanks for reading, reviews savored like Friday afternoons in the fall,

Crys


	6. Timing Is Everything

Disclaimer: It's not owned by me and I'm not making any money, please don't sue me.

Char is the most amazing beta ever, and so patient with me too! Kudos to her.

Okay, everyone, I am so sorry it has taken me this long to get chappie numero six up and running, but school started six weeks ago and let me tell you, it's been hell! So yeah, I'm sorry. I'll try to do better this time.

To reviewers, lovely as ever:

Lilastar- thanks for reviewing…sorry I didn't continue soon, will try harder for you!

The Demonic Duo- glad you like it!

Give the World for Mr. Black- amazing? Thank you.

Rena Lupin- lol, I dunno, its not necessarily my theory about the Snuffles name, but I figured, hey, why not, it fits? Thanks for reviewing.

Rose- "It's so seldom I find a story that's actually well-written and interesting that this is wonderful." You made me cry when I read this! Thank you so much! I will keep on writing this, and hopefully, will update soon!

Tinki-chan- sweet agony? Honey, you have no idea what I've got planned…*insert evil cackle here*

freakyfairy- more laughs coming, I hope. But hey, you never know with me…

Fuzzytuss- thank you kindly, Fuzzy. And I am excited that you want to beta ADKOG.

Daine Yuy- glad you liked. Yoda rocks my world!

Flame Rhiannon- hey, I missed your review! Ah, well, this one more than makes up for it! Your 

reviews always make me laugh and I feel like I'm talking right too you…and, like me, you flit 

from topic to topic so erratically! It's the best! I'll try to keep my ego smaller than Asia, but I 

can't make any promises! J 

icemint- thank you!

Elendor- well, honey, I must say, I do know how cute Sirius and Remus are, and I can only hope that I'll update faster next time- also, I believe I already said thanks, but again, thank you for the heads up on the for real thing. Damn my Americanisms! Forgive me, all European readers in general! Love you, El! *kiss kiss*

Yami Pain- thanks for your review! It was very sweet and not 'brown-nosing' at all! I will try and get in gear with this thing, but w/school in session and everything- I'm running myself ragged! I'm sick too! But yeah, will try to post more!

Senya Starseeker- hola! I'm glad you understand where I was coming from in the last chapter, and every story needs a little fluff! This chapter is also another 'plot builder' kinda, so yeah, more padding around the action, you know? Anyways, enjoy!

And now, the long awaited (bad Crys! must post more!) -

Chapter 6: Timing Is Everything

Refresher from the previous chapter:

"Yuck, I don't want to relive it. Remus, you explain it to Snuffles here, I'm off to bed." **I have something else we need to talk about Remus. In private. Uh, how about we meet in the Shack, tomorrow morning, around nine?**

"Snuffles?" Sirius demanded as she climbed down into the window.

Remus shot her a curious look, but nodded. "Will do, Lils." _Tell him, and meet you._ "Night."

"Snuffles?"

**Thanks Remmie. **"Goodnight Remus, Sirius. Thanks for everything today."

"No problem. Sleep well, Lily."

"Yeah, and goodnight," Sirius echoed. After she disappeared, he looked at Remus. "Snuffles?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"She knows about me, Padfoot."

"Oh! So you decided to tell her after all? Congrats buddy. I'm assuming she took it well, as you two were still out here when I showed up."

"Actually, she's known since first year, before we even became friends. She didn't even really know me and she still didn't judge me."

"But Snuffles?"

"Oh, she knows about the Animagi thing too."

"Bloody Know-it-all. Just can't keep anything from that one, eh? Smart cookie."

"No kidding."

"Shit. Well, before you explain to me, which you will, everything that happened tonight, there's something we need to talk about."

  
Remus sucked in a light breath. "Oh?" he inquired calmly.

Sirius nodded. "Look, you and I both know that the whole 'let's-not-be-friends-with-Prongs' plan was doomed from the start and-"

"May I point out that I had nothing to do with this plan?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, the point is, I was talking to James after you left, and I just couldn't lie to him, so I promised that we'd take him to go see Dumbledore tomorrow morning."

"Padfoot! How could you?"

"It had to be done," the other boy shrugged.

"Yes, it did," Remus admitted. "But without consulting Lily? After all he's done to her? She's going to be pissed at you, pal, utterly livid."

"All he's done to her…okay, Moony, you'd better start explaining."

After Remus finished the story about the wandless magic episode, Sirius sat silently, thinking. "I think it's getting worse, Padfoot." Remus sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Yeah, I know. Lily's important, Moony."

"That's obvious, Padfoot. Of course she's important, she's an Heir! Being sought by the Dark Arts."

"Moony, that's not what I meant. She's important to _me_, real important. I'd protect her with my life. Understand?"

"Yeah," Remus said dejectedly. "I get it. She's important to me, too. Do you know how many friends I have who know about me and don't care? Four. That's it. And you know what? Sometimes I think it's three." _And even just two._

"Moony?" Sirius asked. "What are you talking about? There's Prongs, Lily, Peter, and me. That's four-" _Is he saying what I think he's saying? How can Remus not trust me?_

"How about you think about that while I go check on your love, okay Sirius?"

"My love?" Sirius exploded.

"Goodnight." As Remus wiggled expertly out of the nook, something stirred the pit of Sirius's stomach, tightening it into knots. _I'm only worried for his safety,_ he reminded himself as he watched the werewolf descend with appreciation. Remus peeked his elegant head into the girls' window, and then, after a few whispered words to someone who Sirius assumed was Lily, he disappeared around a corner, heading to the boy's dormitories.

"Uh, okay." Sirius said to himself in the dark. "I have no clue what just happened, but I think something's wrong. Did I do something?" Sitting there thinking, it finally hit him. "How come I didn't see it before?! Moony's in love with Veronica! Wonder why he didn't tell me? Well, I did break up with her before I came up here, so……… so, the way's clear now. Moony's good at consoling people. He should have no trouble cozying up to Ronnie. Maybe that's why he's been so ticked with me lately. Uh, so if they get together, Remus won't be upset anymore, and he won't continue to distance himself from us." _Me._ "That's a solid plan, Sirius. I have to find Moony!" But if he was so sure, then why did this plan make him feel so awful?

When he finally made his way to their dormitory it was to find Remus's curtains already closed. _Oh well. At least we can have him all to ourselves for one more day before he gets so besotted with Ronnie he forgets us Marauders._

Heading to his own four-poster, Sirius stripped and climbed into bed, ready to settle down for the night. Beneath his body, the black haired boy felt the smooth crinkle of what seemed like parchment scratching at his shoulder. He groped for it, trying to get the irritating offender out of his bed and, finally snatching it up, he was about to toss it away, but the familiar markings on the paper stopped him. Heartbeat speeding up, Sirius strained to decipher the faint penmanship.

Curving his hand into the moonlight, he read the terse note with a sigh. _Dumbledore's office, 7am. Meet L. in C.R. Bring Prongs._ Sirius groaned, heart hurting from the sting of the icy tone roiling off the small slip of parchment. _I really need to talk to Remus_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Up, up, up," a chirpy voice demanded.

James groaned as his best friend yanked back the bed sheets revealing the sunlight streaming through the window. "Padfoot," he whined like a four year old. "I was sleeping. It's Saturday! A day to sleep in. Not wake up at-" he check his clock and groaned again. "-six thirty. Wait! That's not even real sunlight!" he yelped.

"Ho, Moony, end the spell, it's blinding our poor Jamsie!" Remus muttered something and the bright sunlight infiltrating the room went out leaving the dorm completely black. "Although, a little light would be good," Sirius amended.

"_Lumos_," Remus rasped, filling the room with the small glow from his wand. 

Sirius was busy tugging on James's hands. "Get up, time to see Dumbledore. Come on, we have the shower heated up already. Move, move, move!"

"Why couldn't we go at ten?"

"Because. Now hurry up, we have to meet someone."

"Who else are you making get up at this ungodly hour?" James demanded, crawling out from his warm bed and stretching.

"You'll see. You have seven minutes to be scrubbed and dressed."

"Aye, aye, Captain," James grunted sarcastically.

"You forgot to salute!" Sirius called after him as he stepped into the steamy bathroom. Remus, who had been watching the exchange from his seat at the window, stretched back, closing his eyes, pretending to sleep. Meanwhile, he was thinking, _I should be happy for Padfoot, I should be happy for Padfoot, I should be happy-_

"Hey Moony, I've got something to tell you."

Sighing resignedly, Remus peeked up at his stormy-eyed friend through one eyelid. "What is it, Padfoot?

"I wanted you to know, I broke up with Ronnie last night. The, er, road's paved now."

"Great!" Remus exclaimed in a falsely cheerful voice. "Um, is that it?" he wondered, silently debating on when Sirius was going to make his move on Lily.

"Well, I was thinking you could comfort her, you know? You're really good at that kind of stuff." _What is wrong with him?! He expects me to comfort his ex-girlfriend? I can't even comfort myself!_

"I'll look into it. Are we done here? I need to get dressed."

"Yeah," Sirius smiled, "that's pretty much it."

"Good. If you'll excuse me," Remus said politely, barely keeping his emotions in check as he disappeared behind his curtains to dress, and regain his bearings. Despite the fact that his friends knew about the curse, he never dressed in front of them, ashamed of the scars littering his lithe frame.

"Okay then," Sirius mumbled, slightly confused. _Shouldn't Moony be happier than that? Shouldn't I?_ Shaking it off, he laid down on his own bed to wait for James, glancing every now and then at Remus's closed curtains.

Seven minutes later a very awake Sirius and Remus, and a not so awake James headed down to the empty common room, barren of all noise except for the crackling of the fire. "Where is this person?" James wondered. Before either of his friends could respond, a short, slim figure dressed in gray sweats with her red hair pulled back in a messy bun bounded down from the girls' dormitories.

"I'm here," she said. "Sorry I'm late, oh favorite BGs of mine, but I slept through my alarm clock. Have you been waiting long? Morning Potter, still asleep I see?"

"BGs?" Sirius murmured, confused.

"Her?" James demanded. "I thought I told you, Remus, she's not on our side. She's been using dark magic, I swear it. A Death Eater to the core." He looked from his two friends to the girl standing a few feet away from him and was surprised to see pain in her shocking green eyes before she dropped the shutters and opened them again to green chips of ice.

"Don't speak of what you do not understand," she hissed then looked through him as though he was nothing but thin air. _I probably am to her._ "Remmie, Siri, if this is necessary, then I suggest we go, before Potter or I decide to throw a funeral for the other."

_Remmie? Siri? Since when are these guys close enough for nicknames?_

Sirius spoke up. "It is Lils, even if you don't trust him, we do, and we just can't lie to him."

"Oh, I can see how this whole ordeal will be incredibly difficult for you! How stupid of me! What about Joni, Sirius? Do you know how much I want to tell her about what I'm going through, do you? Do you know how embarrassing it will be for me, when everyone believes I'm in confinement, the first student ever to be punished thus? All you have to do is go along with the foreign exchange student thing! God, you're right, how insensitive of me to think it would be reasonable to have you two keep a secret from a worm like Potter, while I have ten million other problems."

"Lily, we'll see what we can do, okay? But if we're going to be spending lots of time with you-"

"You don't _have_ to if it's such a burden," she growled.

"We _want_ to spend time with you," Remus continued trying to calm her while steering her out of the portrait hole, Sirius and James in tow. "At least, when you're not on the rampage. Listen, we'll be escorting you to classes, meals, events, etc, so it will look sort of odd if James isn't walking with us in the hallways."

Lily thought about this for a moment, and grudgingly admitted, even if only to herself, that this was sensible. _Sadly._ "What about Peter?" she questioned suspiciously.

"Peter doesn't need to be convinced that you're not a Death Eater, now does he? He doesn't really know you, but I doubt he'd mind you, either. Whatever we do, he'll go along. James won't; it'll draw attention. Spies might piece it together."

"Spies?" Lily froze. "You think he has spies here?"

"We can only guess, Lily," Remus said soothingly. "Come on, we're running even later now."

"What is going on?" James demanded.

"You'll see, James, you'll see. Dumbledore will explain it all."

"Someone better. I am totally confused." _Confinement? Escorts? BGs? Spies? Merlin, I'm confused. This better be good._

**Oh trust me,** the familiar mind voice growled.** It'll be good. Really good. Fan-fucking-tastic, actually. When you understand, when you know, you'll be sorry for what you did to me. I'll never forgive you for what you said, not ever. But I'm going, because Sirius and Remus are important to me, and you're important to them. And because, when you know, when this is all over, you'll have to apologize to me, and I'll tell you to go to hell. Those will be the last words I _ever_ speak to you.**

"Uh oh," James muttered to himself.

They made their way down the dark hallway, James trailing behind Remus, Lily, and Sirius. Sirius broke the binding silence. "BGs?" he repeated, raising his eyebrows in question.

"Bodyguards," she grinned, linking an arm through one of Sirius's and the other through one of Remus's.

"Oh. Brill!" Sirius exclaimed loudly before being subdued by Remus- but not for long. "Help, help! I'm being repressed!"

"Much thanks Ream! And yes, I know I'm brill. It comes with the territory."

"Bodyguards?" James demanded. "What do you need bodyguards for Evans?"

"I'm a very important and sought after person, Potter, don't mess with me or I'll sick my dogs on you- Snuffles, Wolverine."

"Wolverine?" Remus yelped. "Hey, Snuffles was bad enough, but _Wolverine_? An X-man?!"

"You've heard of him?" Sirius asked his friend, more than slightly amused.

"Yeah, so?" Remus demanded defensively.

"Is it too obvious?" Lily interrupted, fending off the argument.

"No," Sirius grinned. "I personally love it."

Remus donned a lopsided grin. "I do too."

"She knows?" James gasped. This was too much.

"Then what were you griping about?" Lily jibed playfully, everyone ignoring James.

"Oh I just wanted to complain. It's not half as obvious as _Moony_, that's for sure."

"Hey, I came up with that," Sirius whined, pretending to look hurt.

"I know. And that's the _only_ reason I tolerate it. Ah, here we are. What's the password again, Padfoot?" Remus mused, staring at the statue. 

"Lemon Drops." The statue swung open and they began the climb to Dumbledore's office in silence. All hell broke loose, though, when Sirius tripped and, due to their intertwined arms, kindly brought Lily and Remus toppling down on top of him.

James couldn't conceal his laughter. "It's a Veggie Sandwich, Lily flower and all."

"Can it, Potter," Lily growled in response, bright red, struggling to free herself from the two teenage boys. She soon succeeded and leapt clear of the pile, Sirius jumping up after her.

"Can't say I didn't enjoy that," Sirius said smugly, grinning.

"Well I can say it for the both of us," Remus moaned, rubbing both his elbow and his butt. "My ass hurts like no tomorrow."

"Aww, and what a cute ass it is, Wolverine, such a shame it got hurt," Lily joked, winking roguishly, making James's stomach churn. Whether from jealousy of the three's apparent closeness, or Lily's admiration for Remus's ass, or even just the effects of Lily's wink, he wasn't sure. All he knew was he didn't like it.

They managed to travel the rest of the way to the Headmaster's office without mishap, and silence pervaded as Sirius delivered three heavy knocks to the thick oaken wood. "Come in."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dun dun dun! Not a cliffie, but sorta kinda just a bit…I know, I know, it's not a real one, but come on guys, let me live my fant-ta-ta-sy!

Some Holy Grail humor in there, and a mix of X-men and all.

Hopefully it won't take me as long to update as it did this time.

Gracias, and remember, reviews are savored like As in AP classes,

  
  
Crys


	7. Tainted

Disclaimer: It's not owned by me and I'm not making any money, please don't sue me.

Char is the shit.

Reviewers:

The Demonic Duo- don't give up hope! I'm sorry! Never give up, never surrender! (okay, ignore that.) But seriously, please don't abandon this story, I will keep writing!

Flame Rhiannon- it's all good, I know how siblings can be *growl* selfish little punks! Lol. Glad to see you again (well, see your name…) Hope this chapter is just as good as you seem to think the rest of the story is…oh, and look for your 'line' in the story.

Lily Bell- thank you kindly!

A.L. Lorraine- I'm glad you like it! Ah, the poetry…you'll see! Thanks for reviewing!

madcornfan- ok! Bye!

Chloe-Wagner- will try dear! Yeah, it would have been good, actually...oh well, a little too late now

freakyfairy- lovely to see you!

Monica-Chan- that is an awful lot of reallys! I feel so loved! I will try to write more!

****

Chapter 7: Tainted

Refresher from the previous chapter:

They managed to travel the rest of the way to the Headmaster's office without mishap, and silence pervaded as Sirius delivered three heavy knocks to the thick oaken wood. "Come in."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dumbledore, surprisingly chipper for seven in the morning, greeted his students warmly, and when the four teens explained the situation to their Headmaster (with a few snippy comments from Lily directed at James), he smiled and retold the entire story to James. As time went by, James' face went paler and paler, his eyes grew wider and wider, and his heart sank lower and lower. Remus sat quietly, more so than usual, his eyes growing misty and acquiring a faraway expression, tuning out the others as he faintly heard Lily and Sirius adding tidbits to the tale.

"And so there you have it," Dumbledore proclaimed, an hour later. "Miss Evans is Lord Voldemort's true love and has been instilled with powers beyond her control. Remus and Sirius were sworn to secrecy and have been delegated to protect her in an inconspicuous way."

"Sir, I don't understand…I mean, all the signs were there-"

Lily groaned impatiently. "How thick can you be Potter? Is it so hard for you to accept that you were wrong? It would do your inflated head some good, I should say. Poor little Potter, Evans isn't a Death Eater like he thought she was, so now he has to waste the Headmaster's time with even _more_ foolishness because he can't come out and say, 'I, James Tristan Potter, am not always right.'"

"Miss Evans, please, Mr. Potter is of course in a bit of shock. Please do not bash him…at least, not in my presence," he added with a wink. "Now, if you four don't mind, I shall have to set up a meeting with Professor Hadley. What on earth is that woman teaching you?"

"She had all the traits," James protested weakly, looking sheepishly at Lily. "I wouldn't have- if I'd have known…"

"Potter, how is it that I keep asking you to shut your mouth and you refuse to do it?" the redhead demanded, scowling in his direction. Facing the Headmaster again, she smiled warmly. "Thank you for your time, Headmaster. Remus, Sirius, will one of you lovely gents escort me to breakfast? It's past eight and since I have to be up, I'm bloody starved."

"I'll take you Milady, I could eat the whole stock. Do you think it's possible for Gryffindor table to run out of food?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know, how many House Elves work here?" Lily replied, taking Sirius' arm and dragging him out of the office. Remus and James stayed seated, each with their own thoughts, staring off into space. Dumbledore rose from behind his desk, stretching and yawning.

"I do believe breakfast is a good idea, my lads. You are welcome to stay here until you are ready to walk down to the Great Hall." With a wave, the older man also made his way down the spinning staircase.

Silence evaded the circular office, broken moments later by James. "You've been quiet since we got here, Moony. Are you feeling okay?"

"James, list off the reasons you didn't trust Lily."

"What?"

"Don't ask, just do it," the young werewolf commanded.

"Well, she- for starters, she seemed to know far too much about us sneaking off and stuff. And, you know, the mind thing was a dead give away, and she admitted to killing other people, or so I thought. I heard her…I just- okay, so all of those aren't great excuses but-"

"You're right, they're excuses," Remus mumbled. "They mean nothing."

"Remus, what is this really about?" More silence filled Dumbledore's office. Remus continued to stare at the door to the office, away from James, and the messy haired teen couldn't see his expression. "Remus?"

The smaller boy whirled to face him, a look of betrayal and hurt shattering his delicate features. "She showed dark traits, did she?" he demanded. "That is your defense, is it not?"

"I don't need a defense. Of course, wouldn't you consider speaking mind to mind a dark trait?"

"And so because she has a dark trait, she works for Voldemort? What if she wasn't his destined, and instead was just another student, who happened to have the ability to speak Parseltongue?"

"She's a Parseltongue too? And Dumbledore believes this malarkey about being bonded with the Dark Lord?! A Parseltongue is without a doubt not to be trusted!"

"And am I not to be trusted as well?" Remus whispered brokenly, his voice barely audible, the silence itself more deafening. James recoiled as though he had been slapped, eyes wide with disbelief. "Am I also enrolled in the Dark Lord's ranks?"

"What?! Moony, how can you suggest that I- that you are- that I think…"

"Well, that's what you've been saying, isn't it? If a person exhibits dark traits within their personality, then they must be in league with Voldemort. I'm as dark as they come, James, I don't just possess dark qualities, oh no! I'm a dark creature!" the tawny-haired boy sobbed, pain and doubts, doubts in their friendship, dancing in his golden eyes.

"Remus, why are you doing this?" James rasped, feeling as though he had been stabbed through the heart.

"It's true, though, isn't it? I am just as untrustworthy, just as despicable as one of the Death Eaters. I must be on the side of the Dark because nothing as unscrupulous and low as me would fight for what is good and right." Remus' voice trembled. "I'm not pure enough. I am tainted right down to my soul. I am the lonely, the dangerous, the damned. And you know it." With that, Remus turned and stalked out of the office, leaving James horrified with self-loathing.

"Oh fuck, what have I done?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ah, Wolverine, there you are, I was wondering when you'd decide to show up," Lily chirped, chomping on a burnt slice of bacon. Catching the look on his face, she paused, mid chew, and tilted her head to the side, shooting him a curious look. He just shrugged, and waved it off for later. She nodded.

Sirius, who was having a nap on his plate, jerked to a sitting position as Remus plopped down across from Lily and him. "Ream! Uh, where's Prongs?" he asked, looking around for the other boy.

"I dunno, I left before he did. I'm sure he'll be along in a bit." _And I don't want to be here when he is_, he thought darkly.

Sirius scowled. "Well, damn him, I need him to get his arse here faster. I can't seem to think of one joke, one sarcastic jibe, one dirty innuendo, just because I need to make sure he's okay…so now I'm all out of witty coments thanks to him…"  


****

What happened sweetie? Lily asked softly in his mind while Sirius rambled, trying not to pry too much. Remus drew a picture of the Shack in his mind, and then said suddenly, "I wonder if those _five_ girls spend the same number of _minutes_ getting ready in the morning." He gestured at a group of Hufflepuffs, and when Sirius turned to glance, looking puzzled, Remus looked at Lily and she winked. **Got it.**

Sirius turned his bewildered gaze to his friend. "Remus, what the bloody-"

"Never mind, Sirius, I'm off to the library. And don't come looking for me either."

"I'll meet you there in a little bit Remus," Lily announced. "Don't worry about walking me there," she added to Sirius as Remus walked away. "I'll be okay for five minutes in the halls."

"But Dumbledore said…"

"Go find Potter Snuffles, he'll need you to restore his ego to its natural size."

Before Sirius could respond, Lily was out the door and on her way to meet Remus at the shack.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Remus?" Lily's voice echoed in the musty air as she made her way down the narrow passageway that led from Hogwart's grounds to Hogsmeade. "Remmie, are you here?" she called again, reaching the open door that led into the basement of the Shack.

"Second floor!" came the muffled reply, and Lily cursed the dusty air as she sneezed her way up two flights of stairs. Entering the solitary bedroom that the stairs led to, she was greeted with quiet sobbing, her footsteps quickening as she made her way to the torn bedside where Remus was curled into a fetal position.

"Hey hey hey, what's all this then?" she asked softly, rubbing gently at his back. "Are you hurt Remus?"

"More than I can say," he sniffled, raising red-rimmed pools of caramel to meet her burning gaze.

"Who hurt you? Why, I swear, when I find out who did this to you, they are dead! Do you hear me, sweetheart? They don't stand a chance."

"No, Lily, really, James is already in enough trouble with you."

Lily froze. "What has that snot nosed spoiled little brat done now?" she demanded, her eyes gleaming with rage, her fists clenched at her sides. "I'll tear him limb from limb, he will never, and I mean _never_ be able to have children ever," she vowed solemnly. "And he won't be able to ruffle his damn hair either," she added as an after thought, drawing a watery chuckle from her friend. "What did he do?" Lily asked again.

"Don't worry about it Lily. I just realized something that I had been wondering about last night. It wasn't good, but it's reality, and I'm ready to face it."

"Face what?"

He replied emotionlessly. "That I am a menace to society, and no one can ever completely trust me."

"What?!" Lily exploded. "Why in the hell do you think that, Remus J.- Oh, oh he wouldn't." She gave a harsh chuckle. "He didn't! How could he even make you think that?!"

"Lily, drop it. It doesn't matter. Facts are facts." The redhead was about to argue, and rather heatedly too, but Remus shook his head and motioned for her to be quiet. "Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"I wanted to talk about?" she repeated, momentarily confused. Then, suddenly the light blinked on and she shifted gears, dropping the other topic. For now. _Boy is Potter going to get it. I'll teach him to hurt Remus like that!_ "Oh! Oh, yeah, that's right. Oh man," she chewed her lip, feeling awkward. Lily hadn't thought about what she was actually going to say.

"Lil?"

"Right, um, well, is there something that's been bothering you these past couple of weeks? It's just, you've seemed kind of out of it and I want to help you out…"

"Something bothering me?" Remus squeaked out, looking very afraid. "N-no, I can't say anything's been out of the ordinary," he managed, while thinking, _Nope, being in love with your platonic male best friend is perfectly normal._

"Damn it, Remus, you know I'm not tactful, why don't you just say it?! You're in love with Sirius rotting Black!" Remus froze in shock, as did Lily who was looking appalled, her hands clamped to her mouth as though that would take back what she said.

"I- I'm not…what makes you think I'm- that is to say…oh, bleeding dickens, is it _that_ obvious?" Remus demanded, petrified. _Does everyone know? Does Sirius know? What is Lily going to say? Say something!_

"Remus, calm down," Lily soothed.

"But Padfoot could know! What am I going to do? _That_ must be what he meant earlier when he encouraged me to comfort Veronica. He wanted to get me out of the way so he shoved me towards the closest available girl so I'd fall for her! As if I could! She's the wrong gender, for one thing-" he wailed, ranting blindly as his stomach filled with dread.

"Shh! Remus, chill out! Breathe in, breathe out, in and out… it's not noticeable, okay? I knew something had been on your mind for the past couple of weeks, but I never guessed…until last night, that is."

"Do you think anyone else knows?" he wondered, licking his lips nervously.

"Not really. You actually hide it very well, did you know?"

"I've always been one for keeping secrets," he replied softly, looking perplexed. "How did you figure it out then?"

"Oh, well, you had just told Sirius he was brilliant, and you actually meant it? I mean, it must be love because that is the only thing that could make you that blind!" she joked. Remus cracked a grin, but managed to be indignant for Sirius' part.

"He is brilliant," he said.

"There you go again! Definitely something in the air…or maybe it's the water."

"Shut up, I know you like James!" he teased, watching her go beet red.

"Liked!" she hissed, looking mortified. "Liked! Not like!"

"Oh come on, Lily, of course you're pissed at him, but you don't have a crush on somebody for, oh, five years, and then suddenly drop it because you realize they can be dense every now and then. If that were true, I'd have stopped liking Snuffles long ago."

"But, Remus- it's not that he accused me of being a Death Eater," Lily protested.

"Oh?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

"Oh. It's-" she resumed chewing her lip, looking tormented. "It was just…last night, when he found me by the fire, he was cruel. He was _trying_ to hurt me, he was baiting me on purpose…I didn't know he had it in him to be so malicious."

"Everyone has a darker side to them," Remus replied gently, trying to soothe her as she had soothed him. "And, you might as well know…when James was six he watched Voldemort torture and kill both of his parents from a closet in their bedroom." Lily gasped in horror. She couldn't imagine what that must have felt like for a boy so young. "He's bent on bringing the Dark Lord down…don't you understand? That's why he hates Slytherin so much. As prejudice as it is, that house embodies everything he has ever wanted to destroy. And yesterday afternoon, by the tree? James was dazzled by you, he was fast on the way to developing a crush, I daresay- and then he 'found out' you were a Death Eater. And he flipped."

"Oh, god, that's…that's so sad. I can't even pretend to know how he feels-"

"He doesn't want anyone to know, because he's afraid they'll pity him. Don't say anything, Lily."

"I won't," she promised, giving the werewolf a grateful hug. "I swear it on my life."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that is chapter seven. Thank you for reading.

Kisses,

Crys


	8. Gypsy Joro

Disclaimer: It's not owned by me and I'm not making any money, please don't sue me.

Thank you, Char for supporting the twist this chapter presents in my story. I wasn't exactly sure what to make of it, but I just follow my writing wherever it takes me and this is it. Thanks for believing in me. You might want to read this chapter over, cause I added some stuff onto the end of it. Enjoy. Love you.

To my chapter 7 reviewers:

Chloe-Wagner- sorry, hun, but this chapter is a main focus on Lily. I will try to work on the slash for the next one, get you some action.

DARKMEW13- thank you, I'll try. Sorry about the wait on this chapter.

Eizoku- Yeah, I guess it is AU. Sorry about that, but see, I HATE the fifth book and its killing me! I try to forget I ever read it as much as possible. I've read the first four books about thirty times apiece over the many years, but I've only read the fifth one once. I just can't bear it. Therefore, some of the facts in this story will not be in line with book five. Forgive me.

TheSilverLady- I'm bummed that you dislike Lily so much, and now that I think about it, I kind of wish I hadn't done the nicknames thing, but oh well, its too late now. Let me know how I can make Lily better. Thank you for reviewing, I appreciate your opinion!

Silver Sparklze- my love, hope you read up top! Later dear!

Mercds- thank you for reviewing! I love it when people review just cause they liked it, and that you actually highlighted some of the things you liked made it even better! Now I know what I should stick with and what I should ditch.

madkornfan- I love your three word reviews. They always make me laugh!

The Demonic Duo- sorry it took me so long. Hope you like it.

sanami_morris- sorry it took me forever to update. Hopefully this will hold you over until I can write some more.

A.L. Lorraine- hmm…I dunno, I just see Lily and Remus (or at least, the Lily and Remus I picture in my head) as being very compatible people, acquaintance wise. They strike me as an almost "Will and Grace" type of friendship without the obscenity and shallowness and all that other raunchy, outrageous stuff that makes the show above so damn hilarious. And Sirius would definitely tell James and James only, no doubts there. Only here, he hasn't said anything to anyone! Anyways, that's just what I think. Enjoy this chapter.

Bronfelen- Please don't die. I really loved your review, it was very heartening and encouraging. I don't get many reviews like it. Thank you.

Monica-Chan- here you go. This one isn't as dramatic. Enjoy.

Freakyfairy- sorry it took me so long.

Flame Rhiannon- lol. Your reviews crack me up. You remind me of a bouncy person. Are you?

TO the Reviewers of my authors note-

Flame Rhiannon- again. Bouncy. And what do you mean, I ruined your social life? Explain this to me. I'm sure your clarification of the situation is going to be good, I can feel it.

Bronfelen- Yes, you have reviewed before, but I love it when you do. Please enjoy this chapter.

DARKMEW13- that sucks about your computer…I kinda had something like that, I went on vacation this summer and completely lost any and all computer access for three weeks solid. It was stupid.

A.L. Lorraine- forgive me!

Piper of Locksley- Thanks…btw, is your name in anyway involved with Robin of Locksley from Men in Tights?

Chapter 8: Gypsy Joro

"Damn it, I'm fucking bored," Lily wailed, irritable and lonely. She was sitting alone in her dorm room at ten o'clock at night, pouting as she flopped back onto her four poster bed. "Why is it that on a Saturday, of all nights, that moron has to go and get detention? Worse, he drags Remus down with him! Of all the dim-witted, idiotic-" She punctuated her frustration with an enraged growl, mixed with a bit of accidental wandless magic, and she couldn't help but giggle when the empty grate of the fireplace burst into violent flames.

"That's how I feel," Lily stated sourly, eyes dangerously dark. She threw herself off the bed, scowling as she recalled what had happened after her and Remus' talk in the Shack.

She'd tried to get near enough to James so that he could apologize to her and then she could forgive him, but that had been quite difficult seeing as one of her escorts was avoiding the messy haired boy, and the other was trying to find out what was wrong with the werewolf. When Remus had refused any and all coaxing, Sirius had decided that cheering up Remus by blowing up the Gryffindor portrait hole was a perfectly brilliant idea. The Fat Lady, thankfully, had been out visiting her friend Violet, and had not been harmed by the stunt. Thus, following the hazy explosion, Remus and Sirius had been sentenced to caldron cleaning by a very tight-lipped Professor McGonagall.

"Agh! Screw this shit," she decided, standing up purposefully. "I'm going out."

Dressed to kill in a plum, strapless mini dress, accentuated with her favorite, black dragon skin boots up to her thighs, and her lucky black fishnet tights, Lily snatched up her stash, a wad of cash as big as her fist that was close to ten thousand dollars, and tucked it in her boot. With a splash of perfume and a glance at her smoky black eyeliner and blood red lips, Lily picked up her wand and with a simple flick, changed her vivid red hair to a deep, warm chestnut. After performing an invisibility charm on herself, her wand joined her money in her right boot, and she swirled her favorite heavy black cloak around her shoulders, staring into the mirror as it became invisible as well. _Hogs Head, here I come._

Sneaking out was no problem, and she scoffed at the simplicity of it as she made her way through the passage to the Shrieking Shack. It was only a short walk from the haunted house to the pub and, her blood tingling with excitement, Lily soon stepped in out of the gusty wind into the noisy tavern, her acid green gaze alight with the thrill of it all.

As the door slammed behind her, a few of the customers glanced her way, some of the regulars giving a wave or a shout of welcome. Smirking, she called out a response, and headed towards the back of the joint, sitting down at the bar. "Hey Ike, how about a tankard of mead?" she called.

"Well I'll be, look what the dog dragged in! If it isn't Gypsy Joro. I haven't seen you since last spring…been travelin?" Ike asked, giving her a toothy grin.

"Nah, not too much traveling, Ike. I spent the summer in France, you know, racking up a reputation," Lily replied, a smug look decorating her features.

"Not much action on the tables tonight," he said, filling up a mug and sliding it to her.

"That's okay, I'm not looking for anything serious. I'm out for a bit of fun tonight."

"In that case, try table five, Gyps, there's a new spitfire in town setting the cards ablazin'." The older man winked at her, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and a thump on the back. "Welcome back, lass." 

"It's good to be back, Ike." After draining her tankard, she slowly made her way to table five, stopping regularly to chat with familiar faces. Finally reaching her destination, Lily scraped up a chair and straddled it, joining the table. Looking around, she spotted Dirk, Skinner, and Jack, all regulars and good friends.

"Gypsy! Shoot, sweetheart, where you been?" Skinner demanded, slapping his cards down and grabbing her in a bear hug.

"Around the block, sugar. It's a wonder you never come to see me. Why, I do believe your wife banned you from these here tables, Skin, if I'm not mistaken," she crowed, shooting him a lusty wink. "How is Ellen?"

"Good, good. Complains that you never come to dinner, but she'll live. I, ah, came into some money this summer, sos she said I could come on down here two nights a week."

"I knew she couldn't keep you away," Lily declared.

"You're damn well right," the bushy haired man, who was old enough to be her grandfather, agreed, blowing her a kiss. "I knew I could count on you to back me up, Gyps."

"Stop hogging her, Skinner! Je-sus, Miss Joro, where have you been? We been missing you round here," Jack said, his brilliant blue eyes glowing as he gave her a sloppy kiss on the mouth.

"Well, I don't see why doll-face. Don't you like to keep your money in your pockets?"

"Ouch! That was harsh, Joro." That was Dirk. "Who named you the queen of poker?"

"Ike did, at the end of the championship last year," Jack reminded his friend, shooting him a look that said, 'now you've gone and done it.'

"I don't think she's got it anymore," Dirk declared, a challenge gleaming playfully in his gray eyes. "Where you been all summer, if you coulda been soaking us through?"

"France."

"Hell, them French characters are a bunch of snobs, why'd you waste two months over there anyhow?"

"I just was waiting for you to get your paycheck, honey. I'm back now, and ready to kick your ass from here to Asia," Lily tossed back. "Prepare to lose."

"Wait a minute, hold up! We're still in the middle of a goddamn hand," Skinner proclaimed, causing the others to roll their eyes. "Besides, boys, we gotta check with the rest of the table to see if we can let her in on the pot." Three pairs of eyes turned to look across the table, and Lily got her first glimpse of the new gambler in town. Long blond hair flowed freely around the freckle-dusted face, hazel eyes quickly and smoothly taking in everything around her, intelligence flashing in them. She was slender, wearing all black and the tips of her hair echoed the theme, ebony in color. _Young, _Lily decided,_ probably my age. Very pretty._

A low, cultured voice replied to the questioning stares. "I don't mind if she joins in. I love a challenge."

Dirk made the introductions. "Joro, this is Figg. Figg, this is Gypsy Joro. Figg's been haunting the tables all summer long."

Lily held out her hand to shake, and the stranger returned the gesture disinterestedly, flicking her hair out of her way as she sized up the competition. "I'm ready when you are," Figg proclaimed.

"Hmm," Lily palmed the deck, shuffling one handedly, thinking hard. "How about five card draw, simple enough right? We don't want these boys loosing all their loose change before eleven, do we?" she smiled beguilingly as all the men at the table groaned.

Figg shot her an approving smirk. "I do believe this is going to be fun."

"Hey Ike, another round on me!" Lily called, dealing swiftly.

"Deuces wild?" Skinner asked hopefully.

"Not a chance," Lily and Figg chorused together.

"Nice going, D," Jack muttered, scooping up his hand.

~*~

Lily shot Figg a triumphant smirk as the two girls counted the outrageous amounts of coins cluttered sloppily at their sides. Three forlorn faces watched as the numbers climbed higher and higher. Jack kept shooting murderous glares at Dirk, who was looking rather depressed and sheepish as he fingered his empty pockets.

Lily chuckled huskily as she came across a slip of paper. "Alright, which one of you simpletons gambled away your house?"

Skinner looked up pathetically. "My old lady is going to skin me alive," he moaned, face pale. He looked like he was about to keel over from mere fright and his tough leathery face had an almost green tinge to it.

  
Lily sighed, laugher in her sharp gaze as she tossed the papers at her old friend, and a few coins as well. "So you can come back," she explained with a wink when he gave her a dazed look.

Watery puppy dog eyes caught her gaze as she returned to counting her coins. "Are you going to tell her I lost the house again Joro?" Skinner wondered pitifully.

"What?" she shot him a confused glance. "Honey, you didn't lose the house. The slip's right in your hand. You won it back the last round, didn't you?" Lily gave him a wink. "Of course I won't tell Ellen you almost gambled her home away. Then I'd never see you, doll, and that'd be a real shame." Her eyes softened to the color of moss, and she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Now go on outside. You're completely smashed, and the cold air should sharpen your senses a bit. I'll be ready to walk you home in a jiff; you know how Ellie gets when you come home late."

"I'm sure glad you're home Gyps," the old man said fondly, ruffling her hair as he headed out. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," she replied, throat tight.

"See you in a few," he called, effectively stumbling his way out the door. A crash and curses followed his exit.

Lily shook her head, listening as Figg continued to count. Turning, she gazed at the other two men seated at the table. "Alright, boys, here you go, twenty five gallons apiece."

Dirk blinked, surprised, and Jack shook his head.

"It ain't right, Miss Joro," he mumbled. "We can't take that."

"The hell we can't!" Dirk shouted, staring at Jack like he'd lost his mind.

"Take it," she pressed, pushing the coins at them. "I'm going to be back within the month and I want to see you two here."

Jack stared at her, trying to understand, as Dirk happily counted out twenty five coins from one of the piles. "If you don't want it," he said as he pocketed his amount, "I'll take yours too."

"No!" Lily said sternly, giving Dirk a look. "Jack's is his own. Go on home, Dirk, before you gamble away next weeks pay."

The other looked slightly embarrassed. "Okay, Gypsy, okay. Sheesh, don't get your panties in a twist." Dirk lumbered out of the pub, calling a goodnight to everyone in general, with replies scattered and slurred.

After giving Jack his promised share and then slipping him five extra one hundred dollar bills, she sent him on his way. Finished, she decided to count the rest later and scraped her loot into the black bag at her side, soon bulging with coins. Lily surveyed the bulky change bag which was too full for a successful voyage back to the Gryffindor common room, so she decided to shrink the bag, and shoved into one of the secret pockets of her cloak draped on the back of her chair.

Tucking her augmented wad of cash into her boot, Lily stood up, eyes going immediately to the quietly counting Figg. "Beautiful game, Figg. I'm honored to have met you and played at the same table." With a small grin, Lily reached out to shake the other girl's hand one more time, but the blonde stared blankly at her, confusion written all over her face.

"That was a good thing that you did for those men, even the arrogant one who didn't deserve it. 

You were cutthroat at the table tonight, as dangerous as a shark. Why did you do it?"

"You mean give them the money?" she asked. Figg nodded. "It's just who I am. They're good boys. A bit misguided, and definitely without the common sense to quit before completely broke, but good and deserving of their hard earned money." Lily sat back down, returning Figg's intense gaze.

"Skinner? He's just a harmless old softie who has a penchant for gambling, which he is sometimes killer at, and sometimes downright terrible. Dirk, as arrogant as he is, is hardworking and honest. He just has a few things to learn. And Jack. My little angel. He is the sweetest boy I've ever met. He volunteers down at the shelter four nights a week and works the streets every weekend with his act."

"His act?" the blonde enquired, interested.

"He dances in the streets for coins. Half of the proceeds he donates to the orphanage down the road."

"Wow."

"I may be heartless when I play, but I remember who I played when I'm done." Lily grabbed her cloak, wrapping it around her chilled shoulders. "Will you be around?"

The other girl's lips curved slightly. "Yeah, I'll be around," she replied softly.

  
"Good," Lily replied with a wink. "See you, then."

With a wave to Ike, Lily stepped out into the snow, searching the darkness for Skinner, who was sitting in the snow with an empty expression. With a heavy sigh, she helped the staggering man up and half carried, half dragged him down the road. Looking down into his muddled brown eyes, she gave a breathless chuckle. "Ellen is not going to be happy with you," she muttered, eyes laughing. "She sure as hell won't be happy at all."

~*~

Thank you, thank you. This is the real chapter eight, and I'm excited as to how it turned out. Let me know what you think about this new twist. Good, bad, overused, new, etc etc.

  
Love to all,  
  
Crys


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